May 9, 2023
Mayor and Council:
Flagstaff and the Northern Arizona region need good health care options. This is not in dispute.
The concerns that F3 continues to raise with regards to the NAH proposal to relocate the hospital relate directly to providing quality health care that benefits Flagstaff residents as well as the Region.
NAH continues to state that a new greenfield hospital is what’s best for Flagstaff and that a new hospital is needed in order to recruit and retain good doctors. These are questionable statements. While every doctor would like to work in a shiny new building, there are many hundreds of thousands who do not. In fact, many of these doctors work at the highest-rated hospitals in the US that are located in dense cities, such as Johns Hopkins and Mass General. Older hospitals in dense cities cannot always be moved miles away and rebuilt. Instead they are renovated or rebuilt in the same place.
Renovation of FMC and expansion away from the main campus is the intent of NAH as outlined in their “New Era Strategic Plan” which states that the role of the healthcare provider includes creating better quality of life through improved access to healthcare at the right place.
In 2019, the NAH Board dedicated $300M for infrastructure and programs to begin implementation of this strategic plan. This funding included the redesign of inpatient facilities to create all private rooms and expanded care areas, including moving the Children’s Health Center from the West Campus to a separate and larger location on the east side of Flagstaff. The NAH Strategic Plan does not indicate the need for a vertically-designed new hospital building in order to serve their larger community.
A hospital design of either horizontal or vertical is a preference. While building a new hospital as a vertical structure saves some costs related to steel and results in slightly more efficiency as a result, the horizontal structure of hospitals has been found to be of great benefit for patients. Benefits for the patient and family include ease in drop off and pick up, wayfinding, discharge and admissions and less stress and anxiety because the building feels more personal, important elements of “healing design.”
NAH can continue the vision outlined in their Strategic Plan by retrofitting and renovating the existing FMC building. It’s clear that the NAH Board believes more private rooms can be created in the existing Flagstaff facility. Medical equipment and related technology are now smaller and more efficient than 20 years ago and can be used in retrofitted buildings where needed ceiling heights can be created utilizing portions of the above floors. These are steps that have been taken by other nonprofit city hospitals to maintain their presence in proximity to their patients.
F3 believes the benefits of renovating the existing FMC campus buildings far outweigh the detrimental effects and risks that can be expected with the building of a new hospital outside of the core of Flagstaff. Other cities have found that physicians move their practices to be in close proximity to a relocated hospital. This has resulted in empty buildings and general blight for up to a decade. A similar impact in Flagstaff would be a significant detriment to our city financially.
The hospital itself is no longer the hub of healthcare. The patient is the hub. Making healthcare accessible should be of highest priority and can be accomplished as outlined in the NAH Strategic Plan as an efficient and effective distributed network of patient care (referred to as a hub-and-spoke design), to meet the needs of the Flagstaff community.
The area served by NAH has urgent medical needs. Flagstaff must rapidly adapt to climate change and we have an affordable and workforce housing emergency, both of which are healthcare issues. The $800M-plus would be better spent by NAH to address these community healthcare needs.
F3 had a long conversation recently with the President/CEO of Parrish Healthcare. He provided valuable information based on 30 years of experience managing hospitals where management has chosen to move a hospital and those that have chosen to renovate the existing hospital. F3 encourages council members to contact him and discuss the NAH proposal. He can provide valuable information relevant to NAH’s proposal that you are not hearing from NAH.
Sincerely,
Michele A James
Executive Director |
