UNM eyes building adult-care hospital

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - The University of New Mexico is planning to start construction on a $146 million adult-care hospital west of its current hospital.

The Albuquerque Journal reports ( http://bit.ly/KlrtGB ) that a $5.4 million agreement for Bradbury Stamm to manage construction of the new hospital and an accompanying medical office building is slated Tuesday go before regents for approval.

UNM hospitals chief executive officer Steve McKernan said if all goes according to plan, the six-story, 96-bed hospital will open in July 2014.

The hospital, about 185,000 square feet, will be located on the west end of the Health Sciences Center, north of Lomas and south of Indian School between University Boulevard and Interstate 25. It will include radiology and lab services, a pharmacy, respiratory therapy and short- and long-term acute care.

A 65,000-square-foot medical office building that will include eye and cardiovascular clinics will be built next door.

"We have insufficient adult in-patient beds at UNMH, and that translates into extended waits in our emergency room. And so to solve the emergency room waits, we need additional beds," McKernan said.

UNMH's patient traffic is so severe the hospital sometimes has to turn away patients who need to be transferred from hospitals in rural areas even though it's considered a statewide referral center, McKernan said.

UNMH sees about 90,000 emergency patients a year, and the average wait time for such patients who need in-patient care is 24 to 36 hours.

What's more, the current in-patient facility was built in 1954 and "is inadequate to provide the state of the art care that should be available to our patients," McKernan said. The 306-bed facility will need to be replaced soon, but UNM has not determined how or when, he said.

McKernan said the building has plumbing, heating, venting and air conditioning problems — and most rooms are too small.

In its first step to push the project forward, UNM has hired Bradbury Stamm as its construction manager at risk, which means the company will guide the university throughout the entire construction process, including advising the building's architect, Albuquerque-based Dekker/Perich/Sabatini.

Bradbury Stamm was one of 10 companies that submitted proposals. The project is still subject to approval by the Higher Education Department and the State Board of Finance.

McKernan said Bradbury Stamm also will serve as general contractor.

UNM also is set to open the 72-bed Sandoval Regional Medical Center in Rio Rancho.