EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – Marshfield Clinic Health System recently released its new “Caring for the Chippewa Valley” plan to build a hospital with attached cancer care on land the clinic has purchased near its Eau Claire, Wisconsin campus. MCHS officials said owning and operating a state-of-the-art hospital in Eau Claire is an important move that allows the organization to offer the highest level of care locally while gaining more control over the cost and quality of care it has provided in the community for more than two decades.
Dr. Narayana Murali, the clinic’s chief clinical strategy officer, said that MCHS is in the process of evaluating the determining the optimal size and scope for the new hospital and will share more information, including an anticipated construction budget, when available. He said the new hospital will enhance specialty services MCHS provides in the Chippewa Valley, including heart care, orthopedics and sports medicine, general surgery, plastic surgery, ENT, neurosurgery, obstetrics/gynecology, bariatric surgery, vein care, pain management and pediatrics.
The facility will be constructed to take advantage of green space, use environmentally sensitive building materials and methods, feature patient views of the Chippewa River and include the latest technology in electronic record keeping, communications and patient care.
The hospital will be built at 1202 W. Clairemont Ave., the site of the Plaza Hotel & Suites. MCHS has purchased the real estate, and the hotel business will continue to operate the Plaza through December. The building will be razed over the winter, and groundbreaking is scheduled for spring of 2017. The cancer care location is tentatively set to open in fall of 2017, with the hospital opening expected the following year. Cancer care services will continue to be provided at Marshfield Clinic Cancer Care at Sacred Heart Hospital until the transition.
MCHS will work closely with the City of Eau Claire, which must issue approval to build.
Source: www.marshfieldclinic.org.
