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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowSt. Francis Hospital & Health Centers will halt construction this summer on a new inpatient bed facility at its hospital in southern Indianapolis.
The facility only is 40 percent finished. The hospital plans to resume work once the economy improves, according to an update posted on its Web site yesterday.
St. Francis’ announced its new bed tower in 2007 as part of a plan to close its Beech Grove hospital in 2011 and consolidate inpatient care at its newer campus, located near Emerson Avenue and Interstate 65.
The six-story tower was slated to cost $265 million and house as many as 206 patients.
“Though hospitals have traditionally been more recession-proof than other organizations, the economic picture today is quite different,” CEO Bob Brody wrote in an e-mail to employees yesterday. “Issues of uncertain reimbursement, major increases in the numbers of the uninsured and the overall economic downturn have contributed significant challenges to all hospitals, including St. Francis.”
More than half of hospitals nationally have cancelled or delayed building projects, according to a survey by the Healthcare Financial Management Association.
St. Francis is the second Indianapolis hospital to delay a major project. Clarian Health delayed work on its expansion of Riley Hospital for Children and on its Clarian Saxony hospital in Fishers. Clarian also laid off 28 workers earlier this year and slashed executive salaries by 10 percent.
Also this week, Wishard Health Services said it would close its long-term care facility, Lockefield Village Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center. That will put 250 employees out of work.
St. Francis plans to let construction crews finish concrete pouring and to enclose the exterior. When that work concludes in mid-summer, construction will be suspended.
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