About the New Hospital

For about 40 years, the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's and Women's hospitals have collectively provided the best in specialized care to hundreds of thousand of patients as they've grown through the earliest stages of pregnancy and childhood, and well into their young adult years.

And now - to ensure future generations of children and women from across Michigan, the United States and around the world continue to have the same access to the highest quality of medical care - it's time for the U-M C.S. Mott Children's and Women's hospitals to grow.

The new one-million-square-foot U-M C.S. Mott Children's and Women's Hospital Replacement Project is needed to meet increasing patient demand and accommodate future research, education and clinical care innovations. It will be funded through philanthropy and hospital reserves.

Since the Mott and Women's hospitals opened in 1969 and 1950 respectively, patient care, research and medical technology have made extraordinary advances. And during the last four years alone, both hospitals have grown tremendously in the number of patients they see and the number of faculty they employ, making the need for a newer facility that much more profound, says Robert P. Kelch, M.D., Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs at the U-M Health System.

"Just like a child grows out of infancy into adolescence and a teen matures into adulthood, Mott and Women's hospitals have outgrown their current structure," says Kelch, who was in his last year of medical residency training in general pediatrics at the U-M Medical School when Mott opened in 1969.

He continues: "This is a very exciting time in the U-M Health System's history, and a proud moment in my professional career at U-M, to see this project realized. We're now on solid ground to build a modern, flexible and adaptable facility for the 21st century that will enable us to enhance research and provide the highest standard of care to our patients for many more years to come."

With a location on the "Terrace Site," the surface parking lot south of Taubman Health Center on the U-M Medical Campus, the new facility will keep Mott and Women's hospitals at the forefront of clinical care, research and medical education, and provide the space needed to meet soaring patient demands for care, says Patricia A. Warner, MPH, associate hospital director for Children's and Women's Services.

"For decades, U-M has been committed to providing newborns, children and pregnant women in the community and throughout the state with the best health care possible. And to this day, Mott and Women's hospitals' expertise in family-centered patient care, combined with research, education and the development of tertiary care specialties, are virtually unmatched in Michigan," says Warner. "So this is much more than just a bricks and mortar project - it's an investment in our patients' health today, the education of our future doctors and Michigan's health care services."

With special attention to the future of children's and women's health, the new facility will provide a larger home for inpatient and outpatient services within the current Mott Hospital, the world-renowned Michigan Congenital Heart Center, the Birth Center and the Brandon Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

The new facility will be designed with room and flexibility for today's care and tomorrow's medical advances, and provide more comfortable and attractive facilities for patients and families, while increasing privacy and capacity. The new facility also includes plans for wireless and paperless operations.

Within the one million square feet of space in the proposed facility, 775,000 square feet will be designated for inpatient space, 225,000 square feet will be devoted to clinic and office space, and about 90,000 square feet of shell space will be in place for future growth and expansion. While a final bed count has yet to be determined, the new facility plans include private rooms with special air handling equipment for immuno-compromised patients, and designated space for patients with infectious diseases. Currently, within the U-M Health System licensed bed complement, 240 are allocated to the Mott and Women's hospitals.

The new facility will further enhance UMHS's specialty services for newborns, children and pregnant women - not offered anywhere else in Michigan - such as the pediatric liver transplant program, the Level I Pediatric Trauma Program, the Pediatric and Adolescent Home Ventilator Program, and the Craniofacial Anomalies Program, high-risk pregnancy services and specialty gynecological services.

Once this building project is complete, the existing Mott hospital will be used to benefit the entire Health System, primarily adult services. Certificates of Need will be required from the state for the facility project to proceed in addition to specific components within, including incremental operating rooms, radiology equipment, and cardiac procedure labs. Additionally, a long-term parking strategy for UMHS is underway to address the need for additional patient parking, and staff spaces that will be displaced as part of the building project.