A campus development study was conducted to lay out the priorities of the hospital, ranging from allowing for growth of core business and strategic expansion into new services to limiting initial cost and ongoing funding. The conclusion of the study was that the hospital is undersized by approximately 6% for its current needs and by over 26% for its projected needs in 2012.
Four options to address this undersizing issue were seriously considered at length. Three focused on remaining at the hospital’s current location, while the fourth entailed relocating the campus. The conclusion of the hospital’s Board of Directors after reviewing the results of the study was that it is in the best long-term interests of Woman’s Hospital and its patients to relocate the hospital to a larger campus.
Our goal is to plan a new campus that will be aesthetically pleasing, technologically advanced, and focused on an exceptional patient experience.
Locating within Baton Rouge’s “medical corridor” was seriously considered. However, the land available near Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center and Baton Rouge General Medical Center at Bluebonnet did not provide enough acreage to allow for future expansion. Were we to build at that location, we would eventually find ourselves with limited parking and unable to expand needed services. In addition, traffic in that area is already terribly congested throughout the day.
The location that best meets our long-term needs is the property on the corner of Airline Highway and Pecue Lane, a 225-acre tract of land that the hospital owns.
Woman’s Hospital will remain in full operation until early 2011 at the current location. Meetings have been held with the Chamber of Commerce, the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, the Louisiana Department of Economic Development, Our Lady of the Lake Medical Center, and federal, state and local elected officials to make the site’s features known to potential purchasers and to solicit their ideas. The office building, parking garage, warehouse, administrative services building, and nearly seven acres of surface parking alone offer great potential to interested buyers. We believe the site is very attractive for many purposes other than healthcare and are actively seeking opportunities with any interested parties.
The Next Step
The urgency to build a new hospital, caused primarily by the recent sharp increase in patient volume and acuity has caused planning and construction to be substantially accelerated. Hospital broke ground June 10, 2008.
Woman's Hospital has also begun planning how the remaining property at the Briarwood site might be used.
