The facility is expected to be completed in 2009 and could cost $100 million, according to Dr. Alfred Knight, Scott and White president and CEO. He said the facility could result in 400 to 500 full-time jobs.
Lake of the Hills Medical Center is a nonprofit corporation created by the Llano County Hospital Authority Board to pursue construction of a new hospital.
Knight said the new hospital would be an opportunity for Scott and White to provide local health care to an area of the state that has used Scott and White’s health care services in Temple.
“This is just another opportunity for us to grow in our broader area,” he said. “We have a long history of many patients coming from the Marble Falls and Llano area to Scott and White in Temple. But as everyone knows, people want local care as much as possible.
“So we came together with the Llano Healthcare System and the local physicians and the local government … to ask what is best for Marble Falls.”
Officials anticipate the nonprofit hospital will offer complete medical and surgical services as well as specialty care such as OB/GYN, orthopedics, geriatrics, neurology, oncology, urology and full cardio care.
Lake of the Hills Regional Medical Center will be part of the Crossroads Regional Medical Campus to be located at the northwest corner of highways 281 and 71 south of Marble Falls. The campus will include medical office buildings, long-term care and assisted living facilities and other health care services.
The hospital will be an “open staff” hospital, which means it will be open to non-Scott and White doctors.
“Any appropriately credentialed and privileged physician will have the ability to send patients and see patients and take care of patients in this hospital,” Knight said.
The Lake of the Hills board approved the agreement Thursday and the Scott and White board of directors approved its side of the agreement on Saturday.
The parties will form a new nonprofit corporation to own and operate the hospital, with Scott and White holding the majority interest, according to a Scott and White statement.
As part of the agreement, Scott and White committed to aid in the redevelopment of the 30-bed Llano Memorial Hospital. Llano County Hospital Authority, through the Llano Memorial Healthcare System, operates the hospital and a network of Hoerster Clinics.
Lake of the Hills Regional Medical Center will contribute the land for the hospital site, which it received as a donation from the developers of Crossroads Regional Medical Campus, Armand and Molly Biglari and Sam Martin.
Scott and White is also preparing to open two hospitals in the coming months. They are the 50-bed continuing care hospital at Temple’s West Campus and a 72-bed hospital at the University Medical Campus in Round Rock.
