Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin has announced plans for two micro-hospitals in Milwaukee-area suburbs and now Ascension Wisconsin is partnering on several new small-scale hospitals.
Ascension Wisconsin said it entered a joint-venture operating agreement with Emerus Holdings Inc., of Houston, which says it is the nation’s first and largest operator of so-called neighborhood hospitals.
The two organizations said the hospitals are expected to open in late 2020 or early 2021. However, they did not disclose locations, and an Ascension Wisconsin spokeswoman declined to comment.
Emerus said it runs 24 micro hospitals in partnership with 10 health care systems and has 20 additional hospitals under development.
Bernie Sherry, who is Glendale-based Ascension Wisconsin’s top executive, said the arrangement with Emerus fits his organization's strategy of making access to health care easier and more convenient for consumers.
“This model provides an innovative way to integrate inpatient and outpatient services while keeping care close to home,” Sherry said in a press release.
Each of the new micro-hospitals will be part of larger health complexes that will include primary care, specialty care, free-standing imaging and/or outpatient surgery, Ascension Wisconsin and Emerus said. They will be open 24 hours a day.
Froedtert & the Medical College, which early in 2018 opened a large clinic at Drexel Town Square in Oak Creek, plans a small “neighborhood hospital” about one-half mile away. The system disclosed in May 2018 plans for the Milwaukee area’s first micro-hospital in Mequon.
The planned Froedtert & Medical College Oak Creek micro-hospital will measure 18,000 square feet and will include a seven-bed emergency department and eight inpatient beds. Also available will be laboratory, pharmacy and imaging services.
Froedtert & the Medical College said the Oak Creek micro-hospital will open in early 2020 and the Mequon neighborhood hospital also is slated to open in early 2020.
Froedtert & the Medical College is partnering with Tandem Hospital Partners of Houston.