10.05.12

Hoeven Helps Break Ground for New St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Office Building

Senator as Governor Helped St. Joseph's Secure Critical Access Designation in 2008

DICKINSON, N.D. – Senator John Hoeven, hospital administrators, and state, local and federal officials today broke ground on St. Joseph’s Hospital and Health Center’s new medical facility and office building project west of Dickinson.

In 2008, then-Governor Hoeven worked with Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI), the organization to which the hospital belongs, as well as the state’s congressional delegation and state and community leaders to develop a plan enabling St. Joseph’s Hospital to address its debt and secure a federal critical access hospital designation, which provides higher Medicare reimbursement rates.

The plan included an infusion of $500,000 from CHI and a $940,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The funding enabled the nearby Richardton Memorial Hospital, which held the region’s only available critical access designation, to obtain skilled nursing beds and transition to a skilled nursing facility. Richardton Memorial Hospital then relinquished its critical access hospital designation, which St. Joseph’s Hospital applied for and secured.

The medical office building and hospital are interconnected and will function as an integrated medical center on a 40-acre healthcare campus. A collaboration with Dickinson Parks and Recreation and the West River Community Center, the new complex will use available green space west of town for beneficial community purposes. The facility will be built to contemporary high energy efficiency standards. St. Joseph’s Hospital will retain ownership of the additional land for future health services development that will benefit Dickinson and the southwest North Dakota region.

“St. Joseph’s has been a dedicated and crucial part of Dickinson and western North Dakota for decades, and now it will continue to provide quality health care to an expanding and dynamic community for decades to come,” Hoeven said. “We’re pleased to see that it’s not only in good fiscal health, but also growing to meet the needs of a dynamic community.”

The new hospital facility will include 25 acute-care rooms, labor and delivery rooms, nursery, operating rooms, a CT scan and MRI, as well as a new emergency department with 16 beds, including two trauma bays. It will also include an ambulance garage and helipad for helicopter services.

The new 78,000 square foot medical office building will be three stories and include an ambulatory surgery center, full rehab center and urgent care clinic, as well as a pharmacy, laboratory services and clinical space for 40 health care providers.

In addition to Hoeven, participating in the groundbreaking ceremony were St. Joseph’s Hospital and Health Center Board Chairman Mike Lefor, hospital President and CEO Reed Reyman, Dickinson Mayor Dennis Johnson and representatives from the offices of Senator Kent Conrad, Congressman Rick Berg and Governor Dalrymple.