Lawrence Memorial Hospital is preparing to stake its claim to land in eastern Douglas County, where a new outpatient center would be the next step in staving off competition from hospitals in Johnson County.

LMH officials hope to close a purchase next month of more than 20 acres of property along Kansas Highway 10 east of Lawrence, said Gene Meyer, the hospital’s president and chief executive officer.

Officials envision opening an outpatient center on the site within two years, while reserving room for health care buildings and services to meet community needs for decades to come.

“We’ll buy enough land to give us enough flexibility into the future,” Meyer said Monday. “We only have nine acres right now (in Lawrence).”

¢ MH’s efforts come as three Kansas City-area hospitals already have bought property along K-10. Olathe Medical Center already owns 40 acres along the north side of the highway in De Soto, and two other operators – Shawnee Mission Medical Center and St. Luke’s Health System – also own property for expansion in western Johnson County.

¢ MH, based at 325 Maine, isn’t conceding the eastern portions of its service zone to such operators. LMH already has growing family-practice operations in Tonganoxie, Baldwin and Eudora, three communities who sent a total of 13,520 patients to LMH for care during the first 10 months of this year.

This architectural rendering of a part of a planned expansion of Lawrence Memorial Hospital looks at the northeastern end of the hospital from Maine Street. The three-story addition would provide a new emergency room on the first floor, an expanded Intensive Care Unit on the second floor and an expanded maternity unit on the third floor. The left side of the rendering shows a proposed stairwell. Officials hope to start construction next fall.

With K-10 becoming such a focus for development, LMH’s next logical step would be to open an outpatient center along the highway, Meyer said.

‘Growth opportunities’

“There are growth opportunities that we can capture,” he said.

Meyer discussed the land-buying plans after addressing Rotarians during a luncheon Monday at Hereford House in Lawrence. Meyer updated his fellow club members about the hospital’s plans to embark on a expansion in town that would cost between $35 million and $40 million.

The expansion would include the addition of a three-story tower on the existing hospital’s eastern side. The tower would include a new emergency room on the first floor, a larger Intensive Care Unit on the second floor and an expanded maternity unit on the third floor.

The needs are evident, Meyer said:

¢ The existing emergency room was designed to handle 15,000 visits a year, but this year is on pace to have more than 30,000 visits.

¢ The Intensive Care Unit needs to grow as the hospital expands its cardiac services. Just last week LMH conducted its first cardiac angioplasty, and such services – along with oncology and women’s health – will become bigger portions of LMH’s efforts to meet community needs.

¢ The maternity unit, which welcomed 775 deliveries when the unit opened its most recent expansion eight years ago, is on track to have nearly 1,200 deliveries this year.

The expanded maternity unit will have more private rooms, Meyer said, each equipped with the latest conveniences for mothers and their growing families. Such upgrades are considered critical for competing to retain and gain market share in a competitive field, where quality care is the foundation but extras can prove pivotal in patient choice.

“It’s all about marketing: Do you have a Jacuzzi? Do you have a big room?” Meyer told Rotarians. “It’s literally all about what you have available.”

Going private

The hospital’s upgrades would expand beyond the east tower.

All of the hospital’s semiprivate rooms would be converted to private rooms, and all rooms would be outfitted with new TVs, Internet access and other amenities, Meyer said.

“That’s an expectation of the consumer,” Meyer said.

The north end of the hospital would be expanded to make room for new, larger operating rooms that also would take the place of the current emergency room. While the current operating rooms all have state-of-the-art equipment, Meyer said, their 25-year-old design isn’t always attractive to surgeons looking for places to work.

“One of our strategies is to grow significantly our surgical business,” Meyer said.

All of the work could begin as soon as next fall, Meyer said. The hospital intends to finance about $30 million of the estimated $35 million to $40 million project by selling bonds, and then rely on donations for the remainder.

Kathy Clausing, the hospital’s vice president and chief development officer, said that LMH’s first capital campaign in its 85-year history would seek to produce $8 million for the project.

The capital campaign will not finance the hospital’s expected land purchase out east, she said. That financing will come through the hospital’s existing revenues, which annually reach $135 million.

The hospital also has $40 million in reserves.

“You have to prioritize,” Clausing said. “You have to position the hospital to get the maximum benefit for the dollar.”