Designing an integrated healthcare campus

UTICA, N.Y. » The Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS) revealed the site plan and outline of its new regional healthcare campus. The result of the months of planning and work is an integrated healthcare campus with a 373-bed, 672,000-squarefoot facility and 1,550 car parking structure on 25 acres in downtown Utica.

In collaboration with the MVHS outreach team, architects -- including the urban planner from NBBJ, the architectural firm designing the project -- have been working since May to advance the site plan and design for the new regional healthcare campus. Together, the group has engaged more than 2,000 individuals throughout the community to obtain feedback and guidance regarding the design of the new hospital and its integration with the surrounding downtown area. The team also met with workgroups from many different departments within the healthcare system in order to ensure the needs of the staff are properly met as they care for patients.

Members of the public are invited to learn more about the site plan at a Community Forum on Thursday, Dec. 7. Two sessions will be held at the Radisson Hotel-Utica Centre in Utica: 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.

“We are excited to be able to share the site plan and outline of the new hospital and how it fits in the community,” said Scott H. Perra, FACHE, president/ CEO of MVHS. “We know that many members of our internal and external communities have been looking forward to the day when they could begin to have a vision of what the campus will look like. New design for healthcare is a complex process; we are designing from the inside out, first looking at the processes to care for the patients and then designing the space to provide the care. We reviewed multiple scenarios for how the hospital footprint, parking garage and parking areas would fit into the final site plan. And we worked with a number of different teams including the New York State Department of Transportation, O’Brien & Gere engineering, Emergency Medical Services and many more. This plan needs to work for multiple constituents, with the most important one being our patients and families.”

“The Mohawk Valley Health System’s decision to construct a centrally located healthcare facility was based on an examination and analysis of what they believe will work best for the health system and the community and is something we will all work together to accomplish,” said Sen. Joseph Griffo.

“It is good to see plans take shape for a hospital that will provide the newest technology to patients in a modern, comfortable environment that emphasizes patient privacy,” said Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi. “Creating a new healthcare campus in a central location will benefit many local residents, and I look forward to see the design of this new facility evolve.”

“Elevating the healthcare of our community is of the upmost importance to strengthening and growing the region,” said Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente, Jr. “This new hospital will transform the healthcare our residents receive by giving them a state- of- the- art facility, the highest level of medical technology and a team of doctors, specialists, surgeons and caregivers that will allow them to be adequately treated right here in the Mohawk Valley.”

“The site plan announcement is another positive step in making this once in a lifetime and transformational project a reality,” said City of Utica Mayor Robert Palmieri. “Our region deserves a state of the art medical facility and through strong partnerships in the public and private sectors, as well as, community organizations and academic institutions the medical campus will come to fruition.”

Officials fromMVHSwill begin working with the downtown property owners to begin the acquisition process for the land. The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY) bonds for the $300 million grant and it required a review of all the property appraisals. The review was recently completed, which allows for MVHS to move forward with the project.

Project Timeline

November 2014: MVHS announces it is exploring opportunities to possibly fundand build a new, single hospital for the community.

January 2015: Governor Andrew Cuomo cites the MVHS new hospital project in the State of the State address. As part of his proposed $700 million to support Upstate New York hospitals, he noted that $300 million would help to “create an integrated healthcare delivery system in Oneida County.”

April 2015: The NYS Budget approves and includes the $300 million for the newMVHS hospital. MVHS continues to work with NYS to receive the application for the funding.

September 2015: MVHS announces downtown Utica as the location for the new hospital.

March 2016: NYS Legislature approves the $300 million for the 2016 budget.

November 2016: MVHS receives Request for Application (RFA) fromNYS and has until the end of January 2017 to submit it.

January 2017: MVHS submits RFA; holds Community Forums; announces the selection of the architectural and construction firms; announces Memorandum of Understanding with Masonic Medical Research Laboratory.

April 3, 2017: The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) announces that MVHS is the recipient of the $300 million Health Care Facility Transformation grant.

May 2017: Architects, including the urban planner from NBBJ, in collaboration with the MVHS outreach team, begin conducting meetings to gather input and advance the site plan and design for the new regional healthcare campus.

June 2017: MVHS and design team conduct over 90 user meetings and 100 communitymeetings to develop the design of the new hospital.

November 2017: MVHS submits Certificate of Need application.

November 16, 2017: MVHS officials reveal the campus site plan and outline. This represents 30 percent of the total design. Future work will include aesthetic details.

Next Steps

December 7, 2017: Members of the public are invited to attend one of two Community Forums to learn more about the site plan. MVHS will host two sessions: 2 p.m. and again at 5:30 p.m. at the Radisson Hotel-Utica Centre in Utica.

2018: The MVHS team will begin the permitting process with the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) to identity and mitigate project impacts; the design team will continue to develop the site plan along with the character of the campus landscape; the MVHS design team will develop the interior and exterior character of the project.

2019: MVHS Integrated Health Campus ground breaking.