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The University of New Mexico Hospital is in the beginning phases of creating a expansion to the hospital that will hopefully alleviate overcrowding and wait times.

The University of New Mexico Hospital is in the beginning phases of creating a expansion to the hospital that will hopefully alleviate overcrowding and wait times.

New UNM hospital in the works

As patients wait longer and longer to be seen at UNM Hospital, the University is beginning the early planning phases for a new replacement adult hospital that aims to alleviate the long lines and overcrowding.

At an August Health Sciences Center committee meeting, UNM regents acknowledged the need to build an adequate new hospital — not an expansion hospital — to replace the outdated existing facility. With regent approval, HSC has begun the planning process.

At the meeting, UNMH Executive Physician-in-Chief Michael Richards reported that more patients were being seen in UNMH clinics this year when compared to last year’s visits, but wait times were still not improving to accommodate the increase.

This was attributed to a lack of updates to facilities, providers, and staff given the budget status, in addition to an expansion to Medicaid which broadened healthcare access to more patients.

Clinical visits and total emergency room visits went up four percent compared to the previous year.

HSC Executive Director of Communications Billie Sparks said UNMH is at capacity almost every day.

The decision to build the new hospital is based on the lack of capacity and long wait times, he said.

Sparks said UNM is the only level-one trauma center in New Mexico, which essentially means it provides the most comprehensive arsenal of resources in the state.

“Community centers can’t afford to provide the level of care an academic medical center can,” he said.

Many complex acute care patients are transferred to UNMH, he said.

Sparks said one way the hospital currently deals with low capacity is by transferring patients who aren’t in critical condition to other local hospitals.

‘It’s going to be a long process.’

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Sparks said the new hospital project is still in its early planning phase and finances or location of the new hospital have not been determined. The design phase could take up to a year, and the construction phase could take up to two more years.

“It’s going to be a long process,” he said.

An update on the initiative provided at the HSC committee meeting included the information that in July, a total of 24 work groups met with HDR Inc., an international architecture firm, to make decisions on programming and site conception for the replacement hospital.

Over 480 individuals participated in the sessions, including 65 physician staff members. Portals of entry, placement of facilities, access, and staff location are factors that are being discussed.

An Executive Steering Committee was also formed to oversee the guidance of the project and ensure inclusion of physicians. The committee consists of faculty department chairs and hospital leaders.

The planning phase focuses on adult and pediatric emergency services, diagnostic services, outpatient clinical office space, surgical operating services, adult inpatient facilities, and integrated behavioral health facilities. The new hospital plans to provide about 300 inpatient beds.

While the new hospital is in its planning phase, UNM is still working on decreasing wait times and providing beds for patients.

“UNM is working on a major initiative with Genesis Health Care which has 11 nursing homes in Albuquerque and 15 around the state. The contract will allow UNM access to four beds at all times,” Richards said. “There are other contracts under development that will coordinate care for other levels of post-acute care.”

UNMH physician Kendall Crookston said the hospital gets so backed up with patients that many people waiting to be admitted to the hospital stay in the emergency room.

After operations, patients often stay in post-recovery overnight, he said.

“With infectious diseases, the standard of care is one patient per room. I was just in one room today that had eight patients in it,” Crookston said.

He said HSC has been deliberating about building a new hospital for years, adding that years ago, when UNMH was full, the hospital would be forced to turn away patients.

“Now they admit patients to the hospital without beds,” he said.

Crookston said long wait times at the emergency room are another issue entirely.

UNMH Emergency Responder Clerk Andrew Martinez said there are long wait times at the ER because people elect to go there when they should be seen in a primary clinic.

“They come to the ER because it takes a while to see a doctor from a scheduled appointment,” he said.

Rebecca Albaugh, a UNMH ER patient, said she waited eight hours in the emergency room once for a debilitating migraine.

“They keep calling names that aren’t here,” she said, scanning the full waiting room.

Updates on the planning process for the new hospital will be provided at the next HSC committee meeting on Oct. 16.

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