The Health & Hospital Corp. of Marion County got good news in its first round of borrowing to finance a new Wishard
hospital: The cost is less than expected.
St. Vincent Health’s agreement to lease the county hospital in Salem for five years is the latest in a string of deals
by Indianapolis hospital systems seeking a statewide presence.
Observers expect a lull with inpatient facilities for five years or more, but continued proliferation of outpatient
clinics and surgery centers.
Clarian Health soon will restart work on a new tower at Riley Hospital for Children near downtown Indianapolis and
is set to lift other cost-saving restrictions.
When Sisters of St. Francis Health Services Inc. bought Tonn and Blank Construction Co. in 1998, more
than one employee of the Michigan City firm wondered what it would be like to be run by a Roman Catholic
order that not only owned a string of Midwestern hospitals but also traced its spiritual heritage to
a 12th century mystic.
Unofficial results from Tuesday night’s special election show more than eight out of 10 Marion County voters supporting a new $754 million hospital for Wishard Health Services.
Tuesday’s vote will determine if Marion County Health & Hospital Corp. can sell up to $703 million in taxpayer-backed bonds
to replace the county-owned hospital.
Clarian Health has resumed construction on its Saxony Medical Center in Fishers after an 8-month hiatus, the Indianapolis-based
hospital system announced Friday.
You know, there’s an election on Nov. 3, right? We’re not voting for president, governor,
mayor, or even dog catcher. We’re voting for a critical piece of the health care delivery system in central Indiana: whether to allow Marion County
Health & Hospital Corp. to sell bonds to build a new Wishard Hospital.
A referendum this fall on Wishard Health Services’ plans to build a $754 million hospital will tell a lot about the
mood—and savvy—of Marion County voters. In this economy, and with government at all levels strapped
for cash, the knee-jerk reaction might be to reject such a proposal.
To pay for a shiny new downtown hospital, the parent corporation of Wishard Health Services will commit itself to yearly
debt payments 10 times as high as they are now. But Wishard officials have no doubt they can bear the extra load
because of places like Rosewalk Village, a nursing home that sits on the eastern side of Indianapolis.
Financial reports trickling in from Indianapolis’ major hospitals show why the city’s health care building boom ground to
a near halt this year. It ran into a wall of investment losses.
Around Indiana, hospitals continue to grow and add workers, increasing their role as an economic driver to the state’s economy.
But health care reformers say hospital growth has a double edge, as higher health care costs dampen growth prospects for other
Indiana employers and their workers.
Clarian Health officials say the only way they can keep operating their medical centers downtown is to support them with profitable
suburban hospitals. So far, it seems Clarian is on the right track. As Clarian moves forward with a new, $180 million hospital
in Fishers, its two existing suburban hospitals are starting to make money.
Plans abound to bring new health care facilities to Brownsburg, one of Hendricks County’s fast-growing towns. Some familiar
local names, such as OrthoIndy, St. Vincent Health and Clarian Health Partners, all have claims to land in the Brownsburg
area.
Matt Gutwein and Lisa Harris drive into work each morning knowing their hospital, Wishard Health Services, will lose half
a million dollars that day. But they’re OK with that. In fact, they’re laying a plan to keep it up for the next 20 years.
Looming large on their to-do list: building a new hospital.
Aggressive expansion plans by Indianapolis’ three biggest hospital systems have pushed Greenfield-based Hancock Regional Hospital
to change up its plans to build an outpost of physician offices in northwest Hancock County, near the borders of Marion and
Hamilton counties. But Hancock Regional isn’t backing down.
