11.06.14

Hoeven: New St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Office Building Continues Effort to Maintain Quality of Life in Dickinson

As Governor, Hoeven Helped St. Joseph’s Secure Critical Access Designation

DICKINSON, N.D. – Senator John Hoeven today joined the Dickinson community at a formal blessing ceremony for the new St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Office Building. As governor, Hoeven worked to develop a plan for securing a critical access designation for the new facility, which will open to patients in December.

“St. Joseph’s new hospital and medical office building will provide the people of Dickinson and the surrounding communities with health care services they need in a state-of-the-art facility,” said Hoeven. “This new medical facility is part of our efforts to maintain the high quality of life that the people of North Dakota expect.”

Securing a Critical Access Designation

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.

Interconnected Medical Office Building and Hospital

The 40-acre healthcare campus includes an interconnected medical office building and hospital.

The new hospital facility includes 25 acute-care rooms, 3 observation rooms, 4 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 also includes an ambulance garage and helipad for helicopter services.

The new 78,000 square foot medical office building is three stories and includes 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.