Construction on new hospital a few weeks ahead of schedule
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IDAHO FALLS – Construction on the new Idaho Falls Community Hospital is on track to be completed a few weeks ahead of schedule.
During a tour of the 182,000 square foot building Thursday, Casey Jackman, the hospital’s chief operating officer, told EastIdahoNews.com the hospital will be complete in early November.
“They’ve been able to cut a little off the construction time,” Jackman says.
The hospital, which is being built adjacent to Mountain View Hospital, was originally scheduled for completion in mid-November.
“It is very exciting to see the progress of Idaho Falls Community Hospital. Community members are just as excited as our team that the project is moving forward because they are anxious to have another choice when it comes to their health care,” Jackman said in a news release.
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Jackman says Mountain View has always been the “healthy man’s hospital”, a place to go for outpatient surgery or labor and delivery. Since Mountain View Hospital is physician-owned, there are federal limitations on how large the hospital can be. Idaho Falls Community Hospital will work alongside Mountain View to broaden the current medical offering with an emergency room, intensive care unit, and other acute care services.
“We’ll be able to accept a lot sicker patients than we’ve been able to in the past,” Jackman says.
Idaho Falls Community Hospital and Mountain View Hospital will be allies in providing care for patients. Patients of the new hospital will stay in private 240-square foot suites. Each suite will have its own bathroom with a shower, window and sleeper sofa in case the family wants to stay by the patient’s side.
The cost of the construction project is $116 million, but another $25 million will be spent on operating costs before the hospital opens up. The project is being funded by a medical trust that also operates Mountain View.
“This is the next chapter of health care in Idaho Falls,” said Dr. Greg West, one of the founding physicians of Mountain View Hospital, in October. “We built Mountain View Hospital because we realized things needed to be done differently. Prices needed to be lower, health care needed to be more collaborative at all levels, and we wanted to ensure our patients were put first. Idaho Falls Community Hospital will follow these same principals and philosophies in care.”
The hospital will also include a restaurant-style cafeteria with a seating capacity of up to 73 people. A medical staff will consist of 350 to 400 people.
The two hospitals will share a joint entrance and lobby. During construction, the main entrance to Mountain View Hospital is closed. A temporary entrance has been established to the west of the closed one.
Idaho Falls Community Hospital is located at 2327 Coronado St.
For the latest construction and project updates, visit the Idaho Falls Community Hospital website.