ANN ARBOR, MI - Plans for a new off-site facility at the University of Michigan Health System are underway that will give more patients from University Hospital, C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and Kellogg Eye Center greater access to outpatient surgical services and medical procedures in a convenient, accessible setting.

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Today, the U-M Board of Regents approved the schematic design for the 49,000-gross-square-foot U-M Hospitals and Health Centers East Ann Arbor Ambulatory Surgery and Medical Procedures Center . The building project and appointment of Detroit-based architectural firm Albert Kahn Associates were approved by the Regents in December.

The new $30 million state-of-the-art facility, a collaborative project between the UMHHC and the U-M Medical School, has been designed with input from U-M physicians to meet surging demand for surgical services, and ease increasing outpatient surgery and medical procedure capacity constraints at the U-M medical campus.

Located east of the existing UMHHC East Ann Arbor Health Center on Plymouth Road, the ambulatory facility will include six outpatient operating rooms, four medical procedure rooms and related support areas. The building project will also provide external and internal pedestrian links to the East Ann Arbor Health Center, and create additional parking. It is scheduled to be complete in the winter of 2006.

“ The East Ann Arbor Ambulatory Surgery and Medical Procedures Center has been designed with the patient foremost in mind, combining state-of-the-art surgical facilities with convenience and comfort,” says Michael W. Mulholland, Ph.D., M.D., Surgeon-in-Chief, University Hospital , and the Frederick A. Coller Distinguished Chair in Surgery. “The building and the programs it will house are a visible sign of the deep commitment the University of Michigan has to our patient community. We are sure the facility will serve their needs for many years to come."

From fiscal year 2001 to fiscal year 2003, outpatient surgical activity has increased by 12.5 percent at University Hospital and 10.5 percent at U-M C.S. Mott Children's Hospital. In addition, medical endoscopies performed in the Medical Procedures Unit at UH increased by 25 percent, or 2,874 cases, during the same time period.

In all, the new center has been designed to accommodate more than 7,000 surgical cases and an estimated 2,000 medical procedures, including upper and lower gastrointestinal endoscopies, each year.

By providing adult and pediatric patients in need of outpatient services with greater and more convenient access to medical care, the UMHHC and the U-M Medical School hope to free up more operating room time at UH and Mott for patients who require the most resource-intensive surgical intervention such as transplantation, joint replacement, cardiovascular surgery and major cancer surgeries.

To meet immediate patient care needs, the UMHHC has implemented several actions to increase outpatient and inpatient capacity on-site for surgery and medical procedures, including reconfiguration of operating room space, extended daily operating room schedules and enhanced case efficiency.

Additionally, this summer, UH will open two new operating rooms for adult surgical interventions for services, excluding ophthalmology. The new rooms will bring the UH total number of operating rooms to 29. Plans are also in progress to add an operating room in Mott and to expand its Post Anesthesia Care Unit . Approved by the Regents in October, the project will make it possible for Mott to accommodate more patients for surgical services. In fiscal year 2003 alone, more than 9,000 operations were done at Mott, 60 percent of which were outpatient procedures.

Despite significant operational changes, increases in outpatient surgical and medical procedure activity continue to mount at UMHHC, says Marc E. Lippman, M.D. , John G. Searle Professor and Chair in the Department of Internal Medicine at the U-M Medical School .

“As the demand for ambulatory services escalates each year, we continue to be faced with the challenge of finding alternative methods to accommodate our patients in need of medical care,” Lippman says. “ This new facility will provide U-M and the community with an effective and greatly-needed resource that will make it possible for us to provide immediate and convenient care to both adult and pediatric patients .”

The building project will be funded by the UMHHC capital resources and Medical School resources. A Certificate of Need will be required from the Michigan Department of Consumer and Industry Services for the new operating rooms.

The UMHS is also constructing the Rachel Upjohn Building , which will house the U-M Depression Center as well as ambulatory psychiatry and substance abuse clinics , on the East Ann Arbor Properties . The 112,500-square-foot building, located to the southwest of the East Ann Arbor Health Center , is set to be complete in 2006.

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