Fewer beds at new MGH

Marquette General Hospital is in the early stages of designing and building a new facility.

The location of the new hospital has not been determined yet, but wherever it’s built, it’ll have fewer inpatient beds than the present facility.

Marquette General currently has 307 beds. The new hospital will have 265 beds, a reduction of nearly 15%, but CEO Gary Muller doesn’t see the reduction as a problem.

“We average about 155 inpatients a day,” Muller said. “Our outpatient volume, though, is increasing, so the new hospital, hospital of the future, is going to be more of an outpatient facility than inpatient.”

The Affordable Care Act is part of a shift in health care to more of a wellness and prevention model. The new MGH’s stronger emphasis on outpatient services follows that shift.

“If you get sick, come to the hospital and we can do a lot of good things, but basically, stay out of the hospital if we can, and get healthier, stay healthier,” Muller said.

When Duke LifePoint bought MGH last year, it committed $300 million to expand and upgrade the hospital in the next ten years. The new hospital will cost $290 million.