Rabner says ideal expansion would be on a 50-acre site and a very rough cost estimate for a new campus is in the $180 million range.
By: Jennifer Potash
Princeton HealthCare System President and CEO Barry Rabner expanded on details regarding possible changes to the medical center’s main campus at a meeting Tuesday with the Princeton Regional Health Commission.
The Health Commission invited Mr. Rabner so it could learn more about the health care organization’s expansion plans.
The University Medical Center at Princeton’s trustees are weighing two alternatives expand at the current 9-acre campus or build some facilities at a new campus. Mr. Rabner said the ideal expansion would be on a 50-acre site and a very rough cost estimate for a new campus is in the $180 million range.
Many of the changes already in place at the medical center, including the new name, stem from a long-range facilities planning process the hospital embarked upon shortly after Mr. Rabner took over as president last year. The additional changes will not occur overnight, Mr. Rabner said.
"Nothing is going to change in less than three to four-and-a-half years and that’s if we decided tonight," Mr. Rabner said.
For the medical center to remain viable and independent, it needs to increase the volume of patient discharge, emergency room volume and annual births, Mr. Rabner said. And to accomplish that goal, it will need to update its facilities and add more staff and certain medical subspecialties.
"It isn’t important that our facilities make a lot of money," Mr. Rabner said. "But it is important they do not lose money."
The medical center has a list of 14 possible sites in the Princeton area for an expanded campus. A couple of the potential sites are in Princeton Township, he said. If financially feasible, the campus would be located in the Princeton area and would be large enough to support relocation of the hospital’s primary inpatient facility on Witherspoon Street if needed. But that list doesn’t include sites that are now unavailable, but if deemed appropriate for the medical center’s needs, could be pursued, he said.
The 1950s-era building housing the Merwick Rehab and Nursing Care unit off Bayard Lane is out of date. In the event the medical center decides to expand at a new location, the Merwick site would likely be sold to finance the new development, Mr. Rabner said. Given the value of the land, it’s unlikely another nursing home operator would take over the site.
The existing hospital on Witherspoon Street already must contend with undersized operating rooms and laboratory services, which conducted 4 million tests last year compared with a 200,000-test average 15 years ago, Mr. Rabner said.
The Health Commission had sent a list of detailed questions for Mr. Rabner to address, such as expansion of the center’s workforce.
Commission Chairman Norman Sissman, a retired pediatric cardiologist, said Mr. Rabner’s candid approach and willingness to meet with the commission represented a new and refreshing approach from past hospital administrations.
Whether the medical center expands at the current site or at a new one, the commitment to provide low-cost clinics and charity care to economically underprivileged residents living around the site remains unchanged, Mr. Rabner said.
Those clinics would continue to be held at the Witherspoon Street location, he said.