University Medical Associates and its partners, The Nebraska Medical Center
and the University of Nebraska Medical Center, are planning to develop a comprehensive,
full-service medical campus on the southeast corner of 180th and Dodge Streets,
just west of the new Village Pointe
shopping area.
The West Omaha medical campus will be a key component of a commercial business
development being called West Village Pointe, which will contain retail, office,
restaurant and residential uses in addition to the medical campus. The Lerner
Company is developing the project, which is expected to receive final approval
from the Omaha City Council on
Tuesday.
As envisioned, the campus will be housed on 36 acres with the project being developed
in phases, said Rod Markin, M.D., Ph.D., president of UMA. The initial phase
of the development will be a clinical cancer center, he said, with subsequent
phases including a surgery facility, additional medical office buildings, and
ultimately inpatient hospital beds to establish a full continuum of medical care
at the site. UMA is the physician group practice for UNMC, which includes more
than 450
physicians and health professionals.
When the entire project is complete, Dr. Markin said the medical campus could
include up to 400,000 square feet of space to support the academic, research
and clinical missions of UNMC and The Nebraska
Medical Center.
He said the cancer center will be a 30,000-square-foot outpatient facility with
a complete range of diagnostic and therapeutic services for cancer patients.
Services will include a complete radiation therapy center, a diagnostic imaging
unit, an infusion center, medical offices
and educational space.
In the July 12 issue of U.S. News & World Report, The Nebraska Medical Center
ranks No. 36 among all U.S. hospitals for cancer care.
“The new medical campus will provide a convenient location for private
practice and academic physicians to bring their nationally recognized level of
quality care to west Omaha. The vision of the new west Omaha campus is to serve
as an extension of our midtown Medical Center
campus,” said Glenn Fosdick, president and CEO of The Nebraska Medical
Center.
“This new campus presents a number of opportunities for private practice
physicians in our community,” said Donald Darst, M.D., chief of the medical
staff at The Nebraska Medical Center. “It represents a continuation of
a strategy begun with the development of Clarkson West Medical Center at 144th
and Center streets. While we’ve experienced great success at that location
with its 24-hour emergency room, outpatient surgery and medical office building,
the demand for health care services in the surrounding area is greater and more
diverse than
we’re able to accommodate at Clarkson West.”
Jim Canedy, M.D., president of Private Practice Associates and a surgeon at The
Nebraska Medical Center, was excited with the potential of the new west Omaha
site. He said, “The new location at 180th and Dodge will allow the hospital
and its medical staff more flexibility to provide the growing west Omaha community
with expanded services in a
convenient location.”
“We have become an internationally recognized facility for cancer
care,” Fosdick said. “We are not only drawing people regionally,
but we also are drawing patients from throughout the United States and around
the world.”
The operations of the new cancer center will be integrated with the existing
midtown campus operations of The Nebraska Medical Center and the UNMC Eppley
Cancer Center, said Dr. Markin. Aspects of integration will include facilities
and operations management, a shared clinical information system, and clinical
treatment and research
protocols.
Dr. Markin said faculty of the UNMC College of Medicine and private practice
physicians on The Nebraska Medical Center medical staff will provide all the
medical care at the west Omaha facility.
“The most cutting edge cancer treatments are available right here in Nebraska
at our medical center,” said UNMC College of Medicine Dean John Gollan,
M.D., Ph.D. “We are the only National Cancer Institute designated cancer
center from North Dakota down to Texas.”
In addition to providing a convenient location for clinical care, the new facility
also will allow UNMC to expand its education and research components, said Harold
M. Maurer, M.D., UNMC chancellor.
“This is something that we have needed for a long time,” Dr. Maurer
said. “It is a perfect complement to our existing programs. It will provide
new educational opportunities for our students and will make it easier for more
patients to take part in the many clinical research
protocols going on at UNMC.”
Dr. Gollan said the new facility will provide a perfect setting for
UNMC’s resident physicians and students to receive educational training.
UNMC is in the process of trying to establish a residency program in radiation
oncology, Dr. Gollan said, and the new facility could become a catalyst in making
this residency program a reality.
He said the west Omaha location also would be ideal for UNMC’s community
education outreach efforts, such as the Mini-Medical School program, which is
held twice a year and provides information at the lay
person’s level on a variety of key health topics.
The west Omaha facility continues the ongoing growth of the Medical Center. In
2003, UNMC opened the Durham Research Center, a facility featuring the most state-of-the-art
technology available. In September 2005, The Nebraska Medical Center will open
its Center for Clinical
Excellence, a facility that will consolidate the hospital’s core medical
services and will include an emergency room, neonatal intensive care unit, 28
operating rooms and four radiology imaging suites.
“We are absolutely thrilled to have the Medical Center be part of West
Village Pointe,” said Jay Lerner, president of The Lerner Company. “They
have a world-class cancer program. There’s nobody better. It is an extraordinary
addition to our development.”
Site preparation, infrastructure and roadwork have already begun, he said. Planning
of the first phase of the project – the cancer center – has already
begun with completion expected in 2006.