Trinity Health moving ahead with $238 million hospital, health center expansion near Brighton
Trinity Health officials Tuesday announced they are moving ahead with plans for a nearly quarter-billion-dollar medical center outside of Brighton.
Trinity will build a four-story, 174,000-square-foot addition onto the existing two-story Trinity Health Medical Center-Brighton to create a full-service hospital.
Plans include expanding an existing emergency department, as well as renovations to the existing health center. One thing the new facility won't include is a birthing center, which Livingston County does not have.
"Services are based on the current community needs," John O’Malley, president of Trinity Health Livingston and Trinity Health Medical Center-Brighton, said Tuesday. "We'll offer a lot of services, but we are going to be constantly looking at the need and if we need to add services based on that need, we’ll do that."
Trinity Health's board of directors last week approved the three-year project and $238.2 million budget. Construction is expected to begin in early 2023, and the new hospital is expected to open in 2025. The health care provider's Howell facility will remain open until then. Plans for its use after that remain undetermined.
Hospital officials also plan a $5 million fundraising campaign, and more information on philanthropic opportunities to support the new hospital and build on past giving for specialty care services is expected to be announced in the coming months.
O'Malley said the recent announcement by the University of Michigan and Sparrow Health system to create a partnership wouldn't affect Trinity's plans.
"We have a great partnership with Michigan Medicine, Sparrow as well. As we stand here today, I don’t think it impacts our Livingston hospital. Our hospital here is aged. This community needs and deserves a new state-of-the-art hospital. So, I don’t think Michigan Medicine and Sparrow coming together in Lansing will impact that," he said.
What the new hospital will feature
The new hospital will feature 56 "acuity adaptable" beds that allow patients to stay in the same room rather than requiring them to transfer between units for different types of care.
"Acuity-adaptable rooms will accommodate medical, surgical and intermediate care (also called step-down) from one centralized room throughout the patient's stay, from admission to discharge," hospital officials said in Tuesday's release.
O'Malley said keeping patient transfers at a minimum reduces the likelihood of complications or errors.
The medical campus will also feature 18 short-stay unit beds that already exist at the health center.
The hospital will feature eight licensed operating rooms.
According to officials, the new hospital will offer the following medical services:
Primary care
General medicine
Gynecological surgery
Urology
Cardiology and intensive cardiac rehab
Orthopedics
Minimally invasive general surgery
Bariatric surgery
Oncology
The current health center is approximately 145,000 square feet and offers outpatient services, including primary and specialty care physicians, diagnostic and testing services, emergency services, outpatient surgery and cancer care.
No birthing center planned
While hospital officials had considered including a birthing center with rooms for C-sections, as they indicated on plans approved by Genoa Township officials, O'Malley said plans for the new hospital no longer include a birthing center.
"We’ve been going over this for the last several years," he said. "The need has changed. Birth rates are on the decline, and not in a small way. The county can’t support a 24-7 birthing unit at this time."
He said another reason for the change is that pregnant people prefer to give birth at a hospital with a neonatal intensive care unit, such as Trinity Health Ann Arbor Hospital.
"A lot of women want to deliver at a facility that has a NICU and that is just something that a small community hospital will never have. It’s just too intense a service," O'Malley said.
He said hospital officials would reevaluate the need for a birthing center in Livingston County, which currently does not have one, if the needs of the community change. Plans for the new hospital include "shell space," which will allow them to expand or add services in the future.
A replacement for Howell's hospital
The new hospital will replace Trinity Health's hospital in Howell.
"The Board’s vote caps a multi-year effort to relocate inpatient and outpatient services from the aging Trinity Health Livingston hospital in Howell to the campus of Trinity Health Medical Center-Brighton," hospital officials said in the release.
What will happen to the Trinity Health Livingston hospital campus has not been determined.
"We've internally kicked around ideas, but didn’t want to circumvent the board before they approved the plan (for the new hospital)," O'Malley said. "We’re committed to ensuring it’s still a vibrant part of the Howell community. We by no means are going to let it become dilapidated in any way, shape or form."
He said the Howell hospital will remain open through the transition.
"We’ll operate pretty normally until we get closer to the opening date and then begin to rotate staff through the new hospital so they can get very familiar with the new hospital," he said. "You’re not going to see anything really change on that site until we open the new facility, and then we can repurpose or do whatever we decide," he added.
He said the plan is to work with Livingston County EMS to transfer all patients in a single day.
"We’d have staff in Howell and staff at the new hospital to receive and accept them," he said.
Health system officials comment
Rob Casalou, president and CEO of Trinity Health Michigan and Southeast Regions, said the project has taken strong commitment to bring to fruition.
“I’m really excited for patients and their families, those who will benefit most from a new state-of-the-art hospital in Livingston County,” Casalou said. “I commend the Trinity Health Board of Directors, hospital President John O’Malley and the entire Trinity Health Livingston leadership team for their tireless advocacy of this project. With all the challenges and distractions of the last three years, the commitment of our local leaders to this project has never wavered and, because of their efforts, we are now in a position to break ground."
“Trinity Health Livingston is blessed to be part of an integrated, nationwide health system, which offers local residents a wealth of resources and support close to home,” said Alonzo Lewis, president of Trinity Health Ann Arbor and Trinity Health Livingston. “In the event higher acuity care is required, our clinical team at Trinity Health Ann Arbor works seamlessly with the team in Livingston to ensure patients receive the timely, high-quality care they need.”
Contact Livingston Daily reporter Jennifer Eberbach at jeberbach@livingstondaily.com.
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Trinity Health moving ahead with $238 million hospital near Brighton
