Sunday, December 05, 1999
UC Physicians edging north
Butler plan could be a near-hospital
BY TIM BONFIELD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The population growth in Butler County has attracted yet another plan for expanded medical services.
UC Physicians, an independent group of more than 400 doctors with close historical ties to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, is planning a large expansion of services in southeast Butler County.
At one extreme, a preliminary 25-year plan envisions a 40-acre medical campus that could go far beyond the standard medical office to include an outpatient surgery center, emergency services, possibly even a helipad.
At the other extreme, the group intends to acquire several acres to establish a satellite office to house specialists not commonly found in Butler County.
The physician group is looking at land near Interstate 75 in the West Chester area. A more detailed plan for the location and size of the venture is expected sometime next year, said John Gillespie, marketing director for the group.
The UC Physician venture would be the second big expansion of medical services in Butler County to be discussed in a week. Mercy Hospital Fairfield plans to break ground in spring on the county's first open-heart unit, a project that could cost up to $23 million.
“They're looking at the same information we are,” Mr. Gillespie said. “The population of Greater Cincinnati has shifted north much faster than the medical resources have.”
UC Physicians owns a medical office building near University Hospital in Corryville and an office in Montgomery, and shares space in Wyoming. Expanding to Butler County is part of the group's overall growth plan.
“We've committed to dou bling our activity in the next seven years. We can't do that just in our current locations,” Mr. Gillespie said.
In addition to the population growth, the new Butler Regional Highway has spurred interest in moving services north, Mr. Gillespie said.
Butler County already has five hospitals. The most extreme version of the UC Physicians plan comes close to adding a sixth — despite the fact that the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati, which includes University Hospital, re cently added Fort Hamilton Hospital to its group.
Whether Butler County will grow fast enough to demand that much more medical service remains a matter of debate.
“We don't know how medicine will be practiced in 20 years. Nobody does,” Mr. Gillespie said. “(Butler County) is an area we want to be in, but to what extent we still don't know.”
Plans remain too preliminary to say when construction would begin.
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