St. Luke’s to open new Nampa Medical Plaza

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Posted on 4th April 2011 by Ken Dey in Boise |Health System |Uncategorized

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St. Luke's Health System announced plans on April 4, 2011 to open a new medical plaza in Nampa. Construction on the St. Luke's Nampa health plaza is set to begin soon, with an opening planned for Spring 2012.

$25 million project will include future full service Emergency Department

NAMPA, Idaho – St. Luke’s Health System announced today a major expansion of medical services to Nampa and west Treasure Valley with the expected spring 2012 opening of the new St. Luke’s Nampa medical plaza.

The St. Luke’s Nampa medical plaza will be the anchor tenant in a $25 million medical and retail complex project being developed by Gardner Ahlquist Development located on 35 acres of land north of the Treasure Valley Marketplace in Nampa at the corner of Midland Boulevard and Cherry Lane.

St. Luke’s will lease approximately 40,000 square feet in the project’s initial 120,000 square foot, three story building. St. Luke’s expects to invest approximately $3 million to finish and equip the space they will occupy for the initial phase of operations.

Saltzer Medical Group is co-locating in the new complex with St. Luke’s and has plans to lease space for clinic operations and an urgent care facility. Construction on the plaza will begin this spring with an opening planned from spring 2012.

The highlight of the new facility will be a full-service, 24-hour, St. Luke’s emergency department staffed by Emergency Medicine of Idaho, the same emergency physician group that currently provides care at St. Luke’s emergency departments in Boise and Meridian.

Other services planned for the medical plaza include:

  • Laboratory services.
  • Diagnostic and imaging services.
  • Medical office space for primary care clinics.
  • Outpatient rehabilitation services.

“St. Luke’s has experienced a growing interest from the community and medical providers to offer additional services in the Nampa/Caldwell region,” said Gary Fletcher, St. Luke’s Treasure Valley CEO. “St. Luke’s has been working on expansion plans in this area for a number of years with community partners and we’re pleased to see those efforts finally becoming a reality.”

The addition of the St. Luke’s Nampa medical plaza will better serve Canyon County residents who already use the services of St. Luke’s. Currently, about 25 percent of St. Luke’s patient volumes come from Canyon County.

“We’re honored that a growing number of people in this community seek out St. Luke’s for their health care, and we’re pleased that we can now bring this care closer to home,” Fletcher said. “The community’s support speaks volumes to the efforts of the thousands of St. Luke’s caregivers who are committed every day to providing our patients the highest quality care possible. The opening of St. Luke’s Nampa health plaza is just the beginning of what we hope is an expanding role for St. Luke’s in this community.”

About St. Luke’s Health System

St. Luke’s Health System is Idaho’s largest and only locally controlled health care system, employing more than 9,000 people. With hospitals in Boise, Meridian, Twin Falls, Ketchum and McCall, St. Luke’s provides patients with unmatched care in specialized medical fields including cancer, heart and vascular, obstetrics, women’s services and children’s health care. To find out more, visit www.stlukesonline.org.

For more information contact: Ken Dey, Senior Public Relations Coordinator, (208) 381-2894 or deyke@slhs.org.

Effective Health Care Reform Requires a Renewed Commitment

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Posted on 20th January 2011 by Ken Dey in Boise

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By David C. Pate, M.D., J.D.

St. Luke’s Health System CEO

As we enter the New Year, the debate over health care reform shows no signs of abating, and some lawmakers are now urging repeal of the Affordable Care Act of 2010.

St. Luke’s Health System has chosen not to take a position on the repeal, although we did not support the Affordable Care Act when it was passed.  While the Act falls short of providing comprehensive health care reform, we hope that the renewed debate will afford an opportunity to refine the Act, keeping in mind that meaningful reform should:

  • Provide insurance coverage and access to health care providers for all.
  • Provide tangible incentives so individuals can make healthy lifestyle choices.
  • Incentivize health care providers to prescribe the best medically necessary care for each patient in an integrated fashion that is coordinated with other caregivers.
  • Remove unnecessary, costly and burdensome administrative processes.
  • Provide for meaningful tort reform.

In its current state, the Affordable Care Act puts too much emphasis on shifting health care costs to state Medicaid programs that are already facing significant budget shortfalls. To make up for those shortfalls, state programs must choose whether to cut programs, benefits or reimbursement rates to providers, or all of the above.

For more than a century, St. Luke’s has treated anyone in need of care regardless of their ability to pay.  As more Idahoans find it difficult to pay for health care, not-for-profit hospitals face greater financial challenges. In 2010, St. Luke’s absorbed $104 million in unpaid costs as a result of charity care, bad debt, and under-reimbursements for Medicaid and Medicare patients.  In other words, it cost St. Luke’s $104 million more than we were paid to care for these patients.  This number represents a 21 percent increase over our unpaid costs for the previous year.

St. Luke’s attempts to absorb as many of those costs as possible through cost-cutting and careful financial management, but as the financial burden increases, individuals with private insurance and employers that offer health care benefits feel the effects.

This year, Idaho’s legislators will face the most challenging economic environment in recent history. St. Luke’s, Idaho’s largest private employer, is committed to Idaho’s economic development efforts. St. Luke’s understands that one of the key factors to recruiting and retaining businesses in Idaho is access to low cost and high quality health care.

St. Luke’s will diligently continue our efforts to improve efficiencies, reduce costs, and enhance quality.  To that end, St. Luke’s has begun implementing Lean methodology (developed by Toyota) throughout the health system to take advantage of every opportunity to effectively eliminate waste.

These efforts will help St. Luke’s become an Accountable Care Organization where we will take the risk for the cost, quality and ultimate value of care delivered to patients.

St. Luke’s efforts began before the passage of health care reform, and will continue, regardless of the outcome of the debate over its repeal. But as the debate continues, we urge all parties to recognize that meaningful health care reform will only be realized if we commit to transforming the way health care is delivered in this country. This is the commitment Americans want, and deserve.

David Pate, M.D., J.D.  is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Boise-based St. Luke’s Health System. Dr. Pate joined St. Luke’s in September 2009. He was previously President of St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in Houston.  In 2009, Modern Healthcare Magazine recognized Dr. Pate as one of the Top 50 Most Powerful Physician Executives.  St. Luke’s is Idaho’s largest, and only locally controlled health system. St. Luke’s employs nearly 9,000 people, and has hospitals in Boise, Meridian, Twin Falls, Wood River and McCall. To find out more about St. Luke’s visit www.stlukesonline.org

For more information contact: Ken Dey, St. Luke’s Senior Public Relations Coordinator, 208-381-2894 or deyke@slhs.org.