Big changes could be coming to Allen County Regional Hospital as Saint Luke’s Health System considers how to add space for various health clinics.
Saint Luke’s proposed taking an incremental approach with multiple options that can be implemented over the next five years or so. It would reduce the number of patient rooms but increase space for outpatient specialty clinics, and add space for physician offices and exam rooms.
“Our responsibility is to bring specialty care with the right model. We’ve got to have good volumes (of patients and services) and be a good steward of funds,” Elmore Patterson, ACRH administrator on behalf of Saint Luke’s, said.
“‘Crawl, walk, run’ is the best approach.”
It’s too early to know exactly what the changes might look like. Thursday’s presentation was the unveiling of proposals after Saint Luke’s staff took a deep dive into the pros and cons of existing facilities, spoke to staff members about their needs, and designed various alternatives to solve problem areas.
The greatest need and most likely scenario is to remodel a section of the hospital previously used to deliver babies. That space would become an outpatient specialty clinic, where patients would be seen by visiting medical specialists such as oncology or pain management.
The other priority is to build an addition at ACRH for a medical clinic, moving the hospital’s clinic from its current location at 401 S. Washington.
Members of the hospital’s facilities board, which represents the county, were enthusiastic about the proposals but divided on the best approach. Some liked the idea of building a larger medical clinic that could provide more opportunities for growth in the future. Some were interested in exploring less expensive options that would keep related services close together.
It’s also not entirely clear how to pay for the projects, but the county already has a good start, board member Jim Gilpin said.
The county owns the hospital buildings and grounds, and leases medical services to Saint Luke’s. The county is responsible for maintenance, and for any improvements to the facilities.
The county’s hospital fund currently has about $711,000, some of it left over since Saint Luke’s began leasing the facility in July 2020. The county also collects a quarter-cent sales tax for hospital maintenance and facilities projects, which brings an average of about $40,000 to $50,000 per month.
Additionally, the hospital’s foundation could launch a fundraising project. A previous fundraising effort when the hospital was built in 2013 brought in about $2 million, Gilpin said.
Specialty clinic
The first priority is to convert part of the existing hospital as outpatient specialty clinic space.
Modern healthcare has shifted away from inpatient to outpatient care. Essentially, that means fewer patients are admitted to the hospital for overnight stays. Instead, they are seen by visiting specialists who will determine where and how to best treat them.
