Children's Hospital Boston to expand clincal and research space

Ten-year Master Plan envisions new clinical care building and updated research space

November 13, 2006

Children's Hospital Boston today unveiled the basic elements of its proposed Institutional Master Plan (IMP): two additional stories of clinical space on an existing building and a new patient care center, both to be created within the next 10 years. The initial plans were presented to representatives of neighboring communities at a meeting of the Longwood Medical Area Forum and will be formally submitted to the Boston Redevelopment Authority before the end of the year.

Following months of planning and analysis, the hospital developed a plan to fulfill a critical need for expanded clinical capacity by adding 136,000 square feet of net new space to an existing building and using the footprint of a current building on campus. To make the plan possible, the hospital purchased the right to develop an already approved research building across Longwood Avenue. The new plan will create a more efficient and modern campus, with patient care operations on one side of the street and research efforts located conveniently across the street. In addition, the surrounding community and hospital patients will benefit from a more attractive and welcoming front entrance.

"As a pediatric referral hospital for ill and injured children in Boston, throughout the state and across New England, Children's has a special role to play as a safety net provider," says James Mandell, MD, President and CEO of Children's Hospital Boston. "Despite the addition of much-needed new clinical and research space over the past few years, there is still a need for more updated and accessible facilities to care for these children and their families."

The projects proposed in the IMP will allow the hospital to meet the rising demand for specialized inpatient space. Specifically:

• Inpatient length of stay grew by 14% between 2000 and 2006, reflecting increased concentration of complex cases at the main LMA campus.
• Inpatient discharges grew by approximately 3.8% during that same period; however, because of the increased length of stay, bed occupancy increased from 77% to 84% during that period.
• Our outpatient services have grown by 22%, with outpatient services provided outside the campus growing by nearly 50%.

"While we are aggressively moving secondary care and some low-level tertiary care into the community through our Waltham campus and our relationships with community hospitals, there is a growing need for Children's to increase clinical space on our Boston campus," said Sandra Fenwick, Chief Operating Officer. "This space will support our capacity to care for children with the most complex health care problems and continue to provide services to children from the surrounding Boston neighborhoods who count on us as their community hospital."

To address the immediate need for additional patient care beds, the proposed plan adds two floors to the hospital's existing Main Clinical Building and creates a new Patient Care Center adjacent to this building. The new clinical space will offer patient care rooms that support clinical care best practices, from increased space for technology and multidisciplinary work teams to more privacy for families. The proposed project for the Main Building Inpatient Expansion will add approximately 76,100 net new square feet as additional upper level floors (two new floors), and lobby and lower level expansion space to the existing Main Building.

The Patient Care Center will be located on the site of the current Enders Research Laboratories and will add approximately 60,850 net new square feet, bringing the building's total 355,500 square feet (12 occupiable stories). As part of the new Patient Care Center, CHB will create a five level underground parking garage containing approximately 350 parking spaces.

To allow Children's researchers to continue their critical work in close proximity to the bedside, we anticipate developing the Longwood Research Institute (LRI).

The timing for the proposed IMP projects is as follows:

• Expansion of the Main Building will occur between 2008 and 2011.
• The lobby work will begin in 2008 and be conducted in several stages, not concluding until 2016.
• The new Patient Care Center will be constructed between 2013 and 2016 (construction can't begin until the LRI building is complete and the clinician-researchers housed in Enders have new lab space. Construction on the LRI is slated to begin between 2009 and 2010, and is estimated to be complete between 2012 and 2013.

"We look forward to working with the city of Boston, the Boston Redevelopment Authority, representatives of the surrounding community and other concerned parties as we finalize these plans and submit our IMP later this year," says Charles Weinstein, Vice President of Real Estate Planning and Development. "While modest in scope, these projects are integral to our capacity to continue providing critical care to our young patients."

Contact:
Michelle Davis
617-355-6420

Children's Hospital Boston is the nation's premier pediatric medical center. Founded in 1869 as a 20-bed hospital for children, today it is a 347-bed comprehensive center for pediatric and adolescent health care grounded in the values of excellence in patient care and sensitivity to the complex needs and diversity of children and families. More than 100 outpatient specialty clinics are located at Children's. Children's Hospital Boston is the primary pediatric teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, home to the world's leading pediatric research enterprise, and the largest provider of health care to the children of Massachusetts. For more information about the hospital visit: www.childrenshospital.org/newsroom.