New hospital in 2009

Here is some interesting news from the Charlotte Business Journal involving new health care facilities (hospital) and Kingman Arizona. Read article linked here.

Lets hit the highlights of the article shall we??

MedCath Corp. plans to build a 105-bed hospital in Kingman, Ariz.

Construction of the 200,000-square-foot Hualapai Mountain Medical Center is expected to begin early next year.

The acute-care hospital will have 72 beds in service and space for 33 additional beds to support future growth.

The hospital's name reflects its proximity to the Hualapai Mountains, a local landmark.

(Emphasis mine)

Nice to see the Kingman name out there. MedCath hasn't even broke ground yet and they are already planning for more growth. As far as the proximity to the mountains goes, it is interesting because of the actual location for the new hospital. More about that in a minute.

Total development cost for the project is expected to total $68.5 million, including pre-opening expenses of $5.5 million. Construction is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2009.

The hospital will be developed with local physicians who will own 21.9 percent of the limited liability company that will own the hospital. Charlotte-based MedCath will own the remaining 78.1 percent stake.

This seems pretty ambitious and will likely be a shot in the arm to the local economy. I assume that we will start seeing more about the local doctors that are involved and more detailed plans. This is certainly some good news.

Now... getting back to the location. I am confident that this hospital is being built on the north side of Interstate 40 in the Kingman Crossing development. A location that is centrally located but has limited access.

MedCath (NYSE:MDTH) is a health-care provider focusing on the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease.

I'm no doctor and I don't even play one on TV, but that sounds like folks with heart attacks or heart ailments are going to want to have easy access to this facility. This is where the argument for public safety and convenience comes squarely into place in diagnosing the very real need for a traffic interchange at Kingman Crossing. The interchange would clearly have better Interstate access for patients. Another big plus would be that the fine people that live on the southeast side of town would also be opened up for easy access. Might be the difference between life and death.

Here is more information on the plans for the hospital in Kingman.

Time to bring solutions to the table to improve the infrastructure of Kingman. We can do this.