Hospitals pour money into expansion projects

Cranes have been a common sight in recent years in Augusta's central medical district as University Hospital and Medical College of Georgia and its health system embarked on nearly $500 million in capital projects. And that does not include a $55 million renovation at Doctors Hospital and at least $14 million invested in Trinity Hospital of Augusta.

Earlier this year, University Hospital finished up a nearly $95 million makeover that includes a gleaming new Heart & Vascular Institute. Since 2004, MCG has completed three new buildings at a cost of $88.5 million and is set to break ground on a $112 million building for the School of Dentistry.

The school is also working on or has completed $27 million in renovations to research or classroom buildings. And, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, MCG is pursuing a number of new grants, such as a $10 million expansion of its off-campus primate facility, said D. Douglas Miller, the dean of the School of Medicine.

"We need to essentially double our capacity there," he said, because of the addition of new neuroscientists and other researchers who are drawing in additional grant money. And that means an additional economic impact also, Dr. Miller said.

"You can see that every time there has been an investment in infrastructure, like a new building, there has been a bounce in our funding," he said. "But there's also tied to all of those grants and contracts significant amounts of money for hiring new people and also for keeping established investigators here. That's really putting jobs into the community, and it's a good way to really look at this from a community standpoint as an economic impact creator."

MCG Health Inc., which runs the school's hospitals and clinics, is in the midst of a $175 million capital project that includes a new free-standing Cancer Center and an expanded Neuroscience Center of Excellence, said Patricia Sodomka, the senior vice president for patient- and family-centered care.

While those expanded centers will mean new jobs, the bigger impact might be in a higher level of care, she said. That means more patients coming in, Mrs. Sodomka said.

"Both the cancer center and the neuroscience center, particularly those two, definitely have a strong regional draw," she said.

At University Hospital, the new heart institute has created a lot of interest from physicians in rural areas who now want to refer patients there, spokeswoman Rebecca Sylvester said.

"Any time you build something bigger and much more accessible, it's more of a draw regionally," she said.

Reach Tom Corwin at (706) 823-3213 or tom.corwin@augustachronicle.com.