Mercy to build 50-bed rehabilitation hospital in Clive
Mercy Medical Center-Des Moines has received state approval for a 50-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital in Clive that it will operate as a joint venture with Lousiville, Ky.-based Kindred Healthcare Inc.
The State Health Facilities Council on Thursday approved a certificate of need for the new facility during its meeting in Ankeny, the health care companies announced.
The facilities council also approved a proposed 22-bed expansion by UnityPoint Health-Des Moines of its Younker Rehabilitation Center at Iowa Methodist Medical Center, which will expand UnityPoint’s inpatient rehabilitation beds to 49, The Des Moines Register reported. That project is expected to cost $4.7 million.
Day-to-day operations of Mercy’s new rehab hospital, which will be located southeast of Mercy West Clinic on Northwest 114th Street, will be managed by Kindred. The $5.3 million project replaces a 14-bed inpatient unit that Mercy operates at its downtown campus, Mercy spokesman Gregg Lagan said. The new hospital will care for adults recovering from conditions such as stroke, neurological disease, injury to the brain or spinal cord and other long-term illnesses or injuries.
“Development of this new inpatient rehabilitation hospital will serve a growing need in the community and region we serve with our network of hospitals,” Bob Ritz, Mercy-Des Moines president, said in a statement. “We believe there is an increasing demand for quality inpatient rehabilitation services and, as our population continues to age, this need will only continue to grow. We are very proud to be partnering with Kindred — a leading provider of inpatient rehabilitation services nationwide — to provide improved access to this level of care with superior outcomes for patients, families, physicians and caregivers.”
The facility will be located on a 9.35-acre parcel that’s part of a 25-acre parcel owned by Presbyterian Homes, which operates Walnut Ridge Retirement Community, Lagan said.
Because the hospital will operate as a for-profit entity, it will pay property taxes to the city of Clive, according to Joe LeValley, Mercy’s senior vice president for planning and advocacy. The hospital is expected to open in the second quarter of 2018.
Kindred, a Fortune 500 health services company, had revenues of about $7.2 billion last year and employs nearly 102,000 people and operates more than 2,600 locations in 46 states.
“We look forward to partnering with Mercy Medical Center to build and operate a facility that will address the growing need for inpatient rehabilitation services in the Des Moines area,” said Jason Zachariah, president of Kindred Rehabilitation Services, a division of Kindred Healthcare.
“Kindred is proud to create a quality-focused partnership with a leading Midwest health care system and excited to broaden our post-acute care offerings in the area.”