LEBANON — Dartmouth-Hitchcock officials will present plans for their $130 million proposed hospital expansion to the Planning Board on Monday.
The new four-story, nearly 200,000-square-foot patient tower is proposed to sit at the existing northern entrance to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, within the existing Loop Road.
It is slated to include 64 new patient beds as well as “future ‘shell’ space” that could be used for 48 additional beds should the need arise, according to the conceptual plans that VHB, the engineering firm for the project, filed with the Lebanon Planning office in late August. DHMC currently has 396 licensed beds.
The project, which officials have said will be financed through a combination of equity, fundraising and bonds, has changed somewhat from that announced last December. At that time, D-H officials said they expected the project would include 60 new inpatient beds and capacity for 30 more in the future. They had also anticipated building a 400-space parking garage.
Instead of the garage, D-H has already pursued and gotten approval from Hanover officials to expand parking at its “Lot 9” facility, near Jesse’s Steakhouse, by adding 274 spots there. From Lot 9, DHMC employees can hop on a shuttle to get to work.
“The funding that was planned for the garage will be reallocated to cover the increased building scope,” D-H spokesman Rick Adams said in a Friday email.
Along with the additional beds, the expansion will now include a lobby and a discharge lounge, where patients can await transportation after discharge rather than waiting in their inpatient rooms, Adams said.
The project is motivated by the demand for care at New Hampshire’s only academic medical center. The demand for care is driven by factors such as the aging population, the hospital’s role as a safety net provider and the health system’s growth, D-H officials have said.
Because occupancy rates at DHMC regularly run at 90%, patients in need of high-level or specialized care sometimes have to be diverted to facilities elsewhere in New England. The new tower is expected to provide access for the existing unmet demand of approximately 3,000 inpatient admissions per year.
In addition, the project may include a green roof on the top of a building connector to both assist with stormwater management and to serve as a “visual amenity,” according to the recent filing. The intent of the landscape design will be to “blend in with the existing campus character.”
In addition to site plan review by the Lebanon Planning Board, the project also will require a local building permit, and reviews by New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services licensing and certification officials and by the State Fire Marshal’s Office.
Monday’s Planning Board meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers at City Hall.
Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.
