U-m Hospital To Expand?

Proposals concerning both the immediate and long-range future of University Hospital, including possible U-M purchase of St. Joseph Mercy Hospital s property on N. Ingalls, were received by the U-M regents Thursday. Approval was expected from the regents today for an immediate Y10 increase in University Hospitai's daily service fees to help offset rising operating costs which include a tripling in malpractice insurance expenses this year, to $500,000. Daily service fees under the new schedule would range from $93 to $100 in wards, up to $105 to $109 in single rooms. These would be slightly lower than most other comparable hospitals in Southeastern Michigan, although higher than St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, according to U-M data. The possibility of eventual U-M acquisition of St. Joseph Mercy Hospitai's present location is not a new idea. It is raised again in a 160-page "Site, Utilities and Transportation Study" which the reeents received yesterday. The study presente an overall view 01 growth possibilities and limitations for the U-M Medical Center. But it does not make specific proposals concerning locations for buildings or property purchases. It was prepared by the firm of Johnson, Johnson and Roy of Ann Arbor with an $81,000 state appropriation, as a follow-up to a study of Medical Center building conditions that was done earlier with a $50,000 state appropriation. That earlier study's chief conclusión was that University; Hospital' s main unit, including its surgery and administrative wings, is in marginal condition and actually suitable only for less demanding uses. Fred Johnson, in presenting tne new study, described the U-M Medical Center as overlooking "a very sensitive area of the Huron valley ... basically a península which can only be reached effectively f rom the west side ... One of the more important constraints on growth is the I traffic system." Three alternatives for long-range Medical Center development are offered l - That the area could provide 800,000] gross square feet for new construction and still retain its present environment and community; - That expansión to 1,000,000 gross square feet of new construction would entail major transportation and utility changes costing upwards of $19-$24 million in addition tq the costs of new buildings themselves; - Consider 800,000 gross square feet as the present Medical Center's growth limit, but "build beyond this using other sites as satellites." In connection with the third alternative, the study makes these observations: "When St. Joseph Mercy Hospital withdraws f rom its present facilities (to a new building under construction at Superior Township's southwest corner, east of Ann Arbor), it will withdraw with it those uses which now occupy the various related offices within the neighbornood, thereby eliminating a rather stabilized transition between an ïnstitutional use and a residential neighborhood. "What kind of new institutional B can maintain the present level of staOTTl V ty in the community? A new major I tient care facility could reduce the I lentialqualities of the neighborhood in I such a way as to introduce a chain of land-use adjustments toward a I like institutional area. If St. Joseph Mercy Hospital were adapted to office or I residential, such impact on the I hood would be lessened. "In any case, the St. Joseph site of 11 acres is significant. It offers the only opportunity for the Medical Center to consider the pros and cons of extendine beyond its present boundaries in a contiguous way." The only comment, when the study was presented, carne from Regent Deane Baker, R-Ann Arbor. He told Johnson: "My reaction to your report is favorable I think the third alternative 'decentralization' into 'satellites' should be further examined."