UofM plans $920M Hospital
Regents approved a $920M, 12-story, 264 private room hospital to be added to the Medical Campus
September 19th, 2019 at 10:16 PM ^
That's great news. Maybe if my insurance deductibles and copays weren't insanely high I'd be able to use it some day.
Until then it's leeches, weed, and antibiotics bought online from India.
September 19th, 2019 at 10:41 PM ^
They'll send someone to break your legs to make sure you end up in there so they can collect that deductible and copay.
September 20th, 2019 at 12:51 AM ^
Take it easy on the legs, Guido.
September 19th, 2019 at 10:21 PM ^
Smart move. Think of all the old people who have had to watch UM football over the last 20yrs. That's a lot of messed up hearts.
September 20th, 2019 at 1:39 AM ^
Unfortunately I don’t think it’s a psychiatric facility.
September 20th, 2019 at 7:04 AM ^
I've been following Michigan football for almost 50 years. Using this rationale, I should be dead.
That would explain my sex life, but I digress ...
September 19th, 2019 at 10:22 PM ^
This has been in the works for years. Really just been waiting for the ground to mature so the building could be erected. That building and the Cardiovascular Center cover the ground the Old Main used to occupy. Once those towers go up, they will be the hospitals ICU units and then the process of gutting the current hospital rooms begins and the main hospital will become private rooms. The more you know.
September 19th, 2019 at 11:37 PM ^
What does “ground to mature” mean?
September 20th, 2019 at 8:21 AM ^
You can't knock down a building and put a new one up right away. There is a time frame associated with the ground but I'm not an expert in that direction.
September 20th, 2019 at 8:03 PM ^
Interesting! Thanks!
September 20th, 2019 at 12:35 AM ^
You said erected
September 20th, 2019 at 10:32 AM ^
Are you related to the former Detroit Tigers outfielder Rusty Kuntz?
September 19th, 2019 at 10:29 PM ^
Love it. Some of us might need to use it depending on how Saturday goes, so they might need to speed up that timetable a bit.
September 19th, 2019 at 10:42 PM ^
History says there will be plenty of other chances to use it in the future.
September 19th, 2019 at 10:30 PM ^
Outstanding - it is time for such a prestigious academic medical center to have a beautiful, state of the art hospital. We don’t bat an eye when hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on college sports; investing in healthcare like this is a worthy endeavor.
September 19th, 2019 at 10:41 PM ^
I think you mean *you* don't blink. Some of us do.
Amazes me that the UM can afford a BILLION dollar hospital wing but not property taxes...
September 19th, 2019 at 10:50 PM ^
Fair! I should have said, ‘many of us’
September 19th, 2019 at 10:52 PM ^
To whom should the State of Michigan (or its instrumentalities) pay property taxes?
September 19th, 2019 at 11:19 PM ^
Well, Ohio does own us...
September 19th, 2019 at 11:21 PM ^
Start with the City of Ann Arbor, our roads SUCK ASS!
September 20th, 2019 at 6:50 AM ^
holy shit I'm sick if bad roads just so someone can pay a little less in taxes while I pay for new tires and alignment every year
September 20th, 2019 at 6:58 AM ^
UM's property is not technically in the City of Ann Arbor, or more specifically within Ann Arbor's jurisdiction. It's co-located with the City's boundaries, but in the sole jurisdiction of UM as a state entity. State of Michigan or federal buildings located within the designated boundaries of Ann Arbor don't pay property taxes. Should they?
September 20th, 2019 at 8:41 AM ^
Well, that's a question of endless, passionate debate among people who live in Ann Arbor. The issue is that the University does create a lot of costs to city resources due to all the people coming into and living in Ann Arbor as a result of what the University does. The city has to deal with the roads and infrastructure around the campus, and many other things to support the people who go to school there and work there. And without being able to collect property taxes for all the land owned by the U, the city theoretically has to find other ways to pay for the expenses. OTOH, the University has an indirect and very positive impact on the local economy that DOES provide money back to the City via things like purchases made by students and University employees, property they own, and so on. Some years back, the University created their own police service partially as a result of this debate about lost tax revenue for the city.
September 20th, 2019 at 9:19 AM ^
The University (as a state entity) is treated similarly to a municipality (i.e., township, village, city). Having the City of Ann Arbor be able to regulate (through taxation) the University would just not make sense. If significant traffic is coming through Saline to get to Ann Arbor, should Saline be able to tax Ann Arbor? No, that wouldn't make much sense. If the argument is that UM should own the roads adjacent to its buildings, that's a more defensible position. In actuality, the University does own several roads in Ann Arbor and pays to maintain those roads through an agreement with the City of Ann Arbor.
Could you imagine having a locally elected city council taxing and regulating a constitutionally created entity whose regents are elected statewide. Doesn't make much sense.
September 20th, 2019 at 10:35 AM ^
I lived in AA for several years after graduation and I understand the frustration that the largest entity in the city doesn't pay taxes, but the City only exists in the manner it currently does because of the University and related entities (most notably, the Medical facilities). Without the University, AA is probably similar to Dexter or Milan. Both nice towns, but neither has the draw that AA has.
And the knock on effects of the job creation and associated population growth are a variety of other municipal revenue steams.
For a sense of the relative size and growth of various towns in Washtenaw County from 1900-2014.
https://population.us/mi/ann-arbor/
September 20th, 2019 at 9:05 AM ^
I'm no tax assessor, but I'd imagine all of the luxury condo buildings I've seen spring up in the 22 years since my undergrad bring in a sizable revenue that, on balance, makes the town v. gown debate moot in 2019.
September 20th, 2019 at 10:37 AM ^
But there will be significant incremental revenue generated by the additional facilities. I suspect that this will more than pay for itself, particularly when a meaningful portion of the $920M is paid for be donations.
September 20th, 2019 at 12:27 PM ^
UM has built two such hospitals in the last 15 years. CVC and Mott.
September 19th, 2019 at 10:30 PM ^
Leaders and Best!
September 19th, 2019 at 10:32 PM ^
Will it be completed in time to accommodate DPJ's surgical practice?
September 19th, 2019 at 10:37 PM ^
The current room situation where patients share overnight rooms post-surgically is ancient as is the parking which is way below what is needed. Let's hope that in addition to this new facility, they can figure out how to update the current hospital which is filled with excellent people but is in major need of modernization.
September 19th, 2019 at 10:50 PM ^
This would be an important step in that direction. Can't do much to update your current system while you're at 90%.
This should end up a nice draw for a lot more of those high quality providers. Not only the facilities but the intended focus as well.
September 20th, 2019 at 10:39 AM ^
The article mentioned that the semi-private rooms in the existing facility will be made into private rooms and that the net beds from the project will be roughly 150.
September 19th, 2019 at 10:39 PM ^
This is not an investment in health care, it's an investment in getting wealthy off an aging and increasingly unhealthy populace.
I know everyone wants to be all "WOWZIE WE are the bestest ever!"
But smart businesses put their money where the money is--pills, surgeries, and being able to charge whatever the hell you want to.
September 19th, 2019 at 10:42 PM ^
Your perspective isn't, per se, inaccurate, but your attitude about it is a dick.
September 19th, 2019 at 11:05 PM ^
Cancel culture. People down vote what hurts them.
September 19th, 2019 at 11:36 PM ^
Just going to make a guess that given medical technology in the Lower Nile during the Middle Kingdom, I'm betting the Pharaohs of Filth usually didn't survive very long.
September 19th, 2019 at 11:57 PM ^
As a provider that will get to work in the new neuroscience tower, I was incredibly excited when this became official. It had been in the works since I joined on as faculty. It will allow us to better care for our patients, so actually it is an investment in health care. Michigan medicine employs some of the best practitioners in the world, so we should have buildings that match that status.
September 20th, 2019 at 12:27 AM ^
Username checks out.
September 20th, 2019 at 9:18 AM ^
Or...and hear me out on this one; there are people who actually care about helping others and have the means ($) to do it.
September 20th, 2019 at 10:52 AM ^
Guessing you're not in healthcare. This isn't as easy as just making an architectural drawing and putting the building up and watching the patients and money roll in. Healthcare is heavily regulated. Not only do they need to fulfill the ability to justify a certificate of need. I know we all think insurance just prints money and the hospitals get half of it, but that's not the case. Hospitals are greatly limited on how they can bill. So if you go and have a procedure, your insurance will say they will pay for up to 4 days of stay. If you need to be there for 6 days because you don't heal in the estimated time frame, the hospital eats that cost. It's not just the cost of your laying in bed, it's the fact that someone else isn't able to be in that bed, so it's a double hit. This happens all the time. So it's not a light decision or easy one to decide to build out a hospital. The system I work for just announced a 1.5 billion dollar investment. That's a new tower, surgical center, and emergency center in an area that is sorely under-represented for healthcare. It's also a very low income area, so 60% of patients will be on government assistance and will not be paying their bill.
September 19th, 2019 at 10:43 PM ^
Outstanding M.
September 19th, 2019 at 10:46 PM ^
All of these comments suck, including this one
September 19th, 2019 at 11:15 PM ^
Leaders and Best!
September 20th, 2019 at 12:05 AM ^
For the love of fuck, actually add additional employee parking with this and dont just add additional commuter shuttles from crisler. Love the new buildings, but they have just built new buildings and added 0 additional parking for years now.
September 20th, 2019 at 4:56 AM ^
Parking is atrocious as are the roads. I had an appointment earlier this week at the main hospital. It took almost half an hour to go a few blocks and then finding parking in P2 was impossible without getting lucky finding a spot when someone was leaving.
Having had two kids recently finish residencies at Michigan Medicine (true Michigan men but an overworked phrase IMO), one in a surgical specialty, there is also a big shortage of operating rooms. Hopefully this new building will help.
In spite of my bitching and moaning, we are lucky to have the Michigan Medicine system in A2. Lots of top notch people and from my experience, people who were very caring and competent whenever I've needed their assistance.
September 20th, 2019 at 1:29 PM ^
The parking situation is one of the reasons I go to St. Joe's instead. I liked U of M and my providers there, but it's just way too big. I've been happy with my providers at St. Joe's as well, and it's much easier to navigate the hospital and specialty centers especially now that I have mobility issues.
September 20th, 2019 at 9:02 AM ^
My wife just informed me that people are now walking down the railroad tracks and through the fucking woods to get back to the further parking lots that have been forced upon them. I just can’t believe that the University has allowed it to get to this.
September 20th, 2019 at 9:27 AM ^
Yes, a parking permit there is just a hunting license.
September 20th, 2019 at 12:31 AM ^
How could 264 rooms possibly cost $920M? Schlissel continues to disappoint as president.