A rendering shows Kansas University Hospital’s new Addition, which is scheduled to open in 2011. The 183,000-square-foot building will provide centralized office space for 211 physicians and 219 residents from Kansas University Medical Center. Doctor’s offices are currently scattered throughout the hospital’s campus, making it difficult for patients to find their doctors.

One day before the groundbreaking ceremony on a planned new building at Kansas University Hospital, the structure got approval for a new addition.

Meeting on Tuesday, the KU Hospital Authority Board approved the measure, allowing for a 24,500-square-foot addition to be added to the already 183,000 square feet planned for the hospital’s new Medical Office Building.

That building, attached to the southwest corner of the existing hospital, will serve as a central location for doctors practicing in the hospital.

The new addition came about as space for orthopedic physicians. Jon Jackson, chief administration officer for the hospital, said the hospital had been looking for space for orthopedics — a process that was running slightly behind planning for the new building.

Hospital officials decided to add to the project, using space dedicated for future expansion to accommodate the new area. Jackson said vertical expansion is still possible at the site.

He said the project was just beginning to be designed, and cost estimates were not yet available.

In other business Tuesday, the Hospital Authority Board:

• Approved a $742 million fiscal year 2010 annual budget. Scott Glasrud, the hospital’s chief financial officer, said the budget represented an increase of about 4 percent from last year. He described it as a “business-as-usual” budget that allows for some flexibility depending on patient volume and the national health care debate.

Much of the budget is kept from public view under a law that allows the hospital authority to protect business or proprietary information that may result in an advantage for its competitors.

• Recognized outgoing KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway, with many board members thanking him for his service to the board and for lobbying to separate the KU Hospital into its own independent authority.

“Let’s move on to the next level,” Hemenway told the board. “It’s not time to stop. It’s not time to stop moving forward.”

• Re-elected Bob Honse as chairman and Dave Kerr as vice chairman during its annual meeting. Barbara Atkinson, KU’s interim chancellor and executive vice chancellor of the KU Medical Center campus, was elected to Hemenway’s open position on the board’s executive committee.