The University of Toledo Medical Center will convert patient rooms from semi-private to private and add two operating rooms with a $25 million investment approved last week by the Board of Trustees Finance Committee.
The investment is considered “competitive maintenance” for the 34-year-old hospital building.
“We have set the goal in our strategic plan to be a top-tier academic health-care delivery system, and these improvements are one way we are working to achieve that goal,” said Dr. Scott Scarborough, interim vice president and executive director of UTMC, and senior vice president for finance and administration.
The largest portion of the investment, which will be funded through bonded debt, is the $14.6 million to convert all rooms in the hospital to private, single-patient rooms. Through this planned renovation and other projects, including the new intensive care unit, that are under way, UTMC will lose fewer than 10 patient beds, Scarborough said.
Another $5 million will be used to purchase a new linear accelerator used for radiation oncology and to renovate a location for the UT Cancer Center.
The addition of two operating rooms and related storage space will cost $1.6 million. And the final $3.8 million will be used to renovate outpatient office space.
UTMC also will expend $5.8 million for the next phase to convert to electronic medical records, but the federal government will reimburse the hospital for those costs.
The trustees committee also approved a 10-year contract with OxyHeal Health Group to construct a 12-person hyperbaric chamber in the hospital. Hyperbaric chambers are used to treat conditions such as carbon monoxide poisoning and wound care for patients.
Both the $25 million renovation of the hospital and the OxyHeal deal will go before the full UT Board of Trustees when it meets next month.
The finance committee also received an update on the fiscal year 2012 budget process that is under way and the economic reasons the board and administration continue the discussion on faculty workload.
