.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} When David Stark recalls all of the twists and turns involved in Iowa Health – Des Moines’ proposal for a new hospital in West Des Moines, he has to pause and smile.

“It’s been a journey,” said Stark, Iowa Health’s chief operating officer.

That journey will reach a critical juncture next week, when the state’s Health Facilities Council convenes Oct. 24 to consider whether to approve Iowa Health’s oft-revised plan for the Michael R. Myers Hospital. If approved, the $118.5 million hospital would be built in the Lakeview Medical Campus, just a block away from Mercy West Lakes Hospital, which is now under construction.

The proposal to build the Myers Hospital as a 95-bed hospital and open initially with 83 staffed beds, rather than as a 200-bed facility that would have replaced Iowa Lutheran Hospital, came after months of community dialogue, Stark said. Iowa Health also plans to reduce its licensed bed capacity at both Iowa Lutheran and Iowa Methodist Medical Center in conjunction with the pro-ject to address concerns that the new hospital would create an oversupply of hospital bed capacity and drive up health-care costs.

The net effect, Stark said, will be a cost savings of nearly $90 million compared with its previous plan to replace Iowa Lutheran, and Iowa Health’s total staffed beds will remain at its present level of 666 beds after the new hospital is completed.

The new hospital, however, will cost about $36 million more to build than the 2004 proposal the state rejected. About two-thirds of that increase is due to higher construction costs, with the remainder for added features such as the critical-care unit, according to documentation Iowa Health filed in support of its application.

In those documents, Iowa Health also indicated to state officials if the Health Facilities Council denies its application to build in Dallas County, it will return to its previous plan to build the hospital in Polk County as Iowa Lutheran’s replacement.

One of the most important changes Iowa Health made from its original proposal from 2004 was to incorporate a critical-care unit into the new hospital, Stark said.

“That’s a big step up to say, this is a community hospital and we’re here to serve you, and not just a temporary location before we transfer you somewhere else,” Stark said. “We will be a legitimate community hospital here. That, along with some of the other imaging and surgical services we will have, is an important difference that we didn’t have in our plan the first time.”

Iowa Health’s efforts to locate a hospital in West Des Moines extend back several years. In February 2004, the Health Facilities Council rejected Iowa Health’s plan to build an 83-bed hospital in the same location. Last year, Iowa Health came back with a proposal to replace Iowa Lutheran Hospital with the Myers Hospital, which would have included a combination of new construction and renovation of two office buildings now occupied by Marsh & McClennan Cos. Inc. The Iowa Department of Public Health in January determined that plan, involving a replacement of a facility within the same county, did not require review by the Health Facilities Council.

Mercy Medical Center proceeded with construction of an 82-bed West Des Moines hospital in July, after reaching an agreement with Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield to accept reduced reimbursement rates at that facility. Mercy had also obtained a determination from the Iowa Department of Public Health that the project did not require review by the Health Facilities Council. Mercy plans to close Mercy Capitol when its new hospital opens.

Iowa Health’s most recent shift in direction – back to its original Dallas County building site, but on a smaller scale – was largely driven by Wellmark. Earlier this year, the insurer filed a lawsuit challenging the Iowa Department of Public Health’s determination that the Health Facilities Council did not need to review the project.

On Oct. 3, after several months of negotiation, Wellmark announced it would support Iowa Health’s revised hospital plan, which included an agreement by Iowa Health to accept lower reimbursement rates for procedures performed at the new hospital.

“One of the things we feel strongly about, and it’s evident in our application, is that we are going to be able to be more cost effective in this facility than we are even in our downtown campuses,” Stark said. “When you can design a facility from the ground up, you can incorporate the technology that will help our staff to operate more efficiently.”

“I think that Wellmark’s decision to support this also signals that they think it’s a better plan,” said Sid Ramsey, Iowa Health’s vice president for strategic business development and marketing. “Quite honestly, I think what we have today in terms of a plan is a much more robust plan than what we had before. It addresses to a broader extent planning for the entire community; it addresses the growing needs of the western suburbs as well as the growing population base in eastern and northern Polk County.”

On any given day, Iowa Health typically has approximately 150 patients in its two Des Moines hospitals who live in the western suburbs, Ramsey said.

“That’s a big number,” he said. “We still, even with 95 beds, won’t be able to serve everyone. We’re not going to replicate the trauma center, the rehab center, the children’s hospital, the cancer center out there. But there will be a full-service emergency room.

“So I think we’ve taken a better look at the entire community, and have thoughtfully planned to keep services downtown, but planned for the huge growth in the western suburbs.”