Health system opens $26.9M outpatient care facility

Health system opens $26.9M outpatient care facility

Borgess Health Park in Battle Creek is an outpatient care facility with primary and specialty care offices. Courtesy Borgess Health

A health system has opened a $26.9-million outpatient care facility to extend its reach in the region.

Consolidating offices

Borgess Health opened Borgess Health Park in Battle Creek earlier this month, at 3035 Capital Ave. SW.

The 65,000-square-foot outpatient care facility consolidates primary and specialty care offices to continue meeting the needs of residents throughout Calhoun County and provide a destination for health services.

Tom Mushett, administrative director at Borgess Health Park, said the primary reason behind the decision to build the new ambulatory care facility in Battle Creek was to maintain the connection with Calhoun County and the residents of Battle Creek.

“We have had a long-standing relationship and connection with that community, and I think that, with health care transitioning from an inpatient to an outpatient focus, I think that was the primary reason,” Mushett said. “We have never had this ambulatory presence in Battle Creek before, so we are very excited to do that. We are here to continue the health ministry of Borgess, and our associates are very excited to be here and participate in that as well.”

Outpatient services

Borgess Health Park provides a variety of outpatient care services: primary and specialty services, radiology, physical therapy, a retail pharmacy, cardiology, neurosurgery, orthopedics, bariatric and women’s health.

Mushett said there are five full-time physicians at the Battle Creek facility, with eight physicians expected by the end of the summer: part of the team includes Dr. William Bogan, internal medicine and primary care; Dr. Travis Terrell, obstetrics and gynecology; and Dr. David Wang and Dr. Paul Walk, preventative health services.

“We also have cardiologists who relocated here to this location, and they will be here every day," Mushett said. "We also have about a dozen specialists that have taken shared space and will be holding clinics here on a regular basis."

With approximately 60 associates working the facility, Mushett said as the business grows and operating hours expand, there is the potential to have 80 to 100 employees working at Borgess Health Park.

The project

The facility is located on 21-acre campus, which was acquired in December 2011 from the city of Battle Creek and on-site construction began in October 2012.

The general contractor for the building was AVB Construction in Portage. Mushett said the company has partnered with Borgess on numerous projects in the past.

During the design process, physicians were invited to participate, and Borgess Health partnered with NBBJ, an architecture firm in Columbus, Ohio, which specializes in creating productive and sustainable places.

Mushett said the physician spaces were developed to increase and improve communication between associates and providers.

“All of our rooms are generously proportioned," Mushett said. "All of our workspaces have a tremendous amount of natural light. All of our physicians that have located here, they have been very complimentary of this space and very excited to be here.”

Borgess Health said that Borgess Health Park uses a third less electricity than comparable facilities through its LED lighting, incorporates a ventilation system based on variable air volume and uses building materials that were selected based on their high-recycled content and ability to maintain temperature.

“The building is amazing in its energy design," Mushett said. "It is an extremely efficient facility that leaves a very small footprint on our environment. We have purposefully planted a lot of local Michigan greenery around the facility. We are trying to take care of our environment here, and I think it is a very calming, peaceful place for patients to come to deal with their health care issues at this campus.”

Mushett said the response from the community at this point has been positive.

“A lot of them told us they are very happy Borgess is here,” Mushett said. “They think our facility is a beautiful facility, and we are just excited to serve the citizens and residents of Calhoun County in this way.”

Borgess Health

The Borgess Health system serves residents in 10 counties and is a member of Ascension Health, a nonprofit Catholic health system.

Borgess Health provides inpatient and outpatient services, such as cardiovascular, primary care, emergency medicine, long-term acute care and neuroscience care.