.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Pledging that the project will not require any new tax dollars, Broadlawns Medical Center officials announced today a three-phase, $44 million modernization plan for its aging hospital complex.

“This is a realistic plan that will ensure a promising future for this valuable community hospital,” Broadlawns Chief Executive Officer Jody Jenner said in a press release. The hospital plans to use a combination of loans and private donations to fund the project.

The hospital’s seven-member elected board must now vote on the proposal. Spokeswoman Mikki Stier said no definitive date has been set for the next meeting, but that the vote should take place within the next several months.

The plan calls for new outpatient clinics for primary care, including family medicine, internal medicine and pediatric specialties. Additionally, the podiatric medicine, obstetrics and general and orthopedic surgery areas will be expanded. Both inpatient and outpatient mental-health services will also be expanded.

With facilities that date back to 1924, the acute-care county hospital last year took in $150 million in revenues, with about half of that money coming from Polk County property taxes. About 30 percent of its revenues are from Medicare and Medicaid payments.

The project’s first stage, with an estimated price tag of $22.6 million, would break ground in the fall of 2008 to update Broadlawns’ most seriously outdated areas, including the emergency and radiology departments.

Broadlawns officials had discussed a possible move of the hospital to the Iowa Lutheran Hospital facilities on the East Side, but that option is no longer viable because Iowa Health – Des Moines has decided to maintain its operations there.

Phase II of the renovation project is tentatively scheduled to start in spring 2010, with Phase III estimated to begin in summer 2011.