WEST CHESTER TWP. — This week's announcement that a new hospital could be built here in three to five years makes it more critical than ever that Middletown Regional Hospital move closer to Interstate 75, Butler County Commissioner Mike Fox said Friday.

        It would be hard for Middletown Regional to compete, while operating from its current campus in central Middletown, with a planned 100-bed hospital on Interstate 75 at Tylersville Road, Mr. Fox said.

        “In order to do indigent care, you have to have a strong paying-customer base,” he said.

        Middletown Regional's proposed site on I-75 at Greentree Road is more accessible to affluent Butler and Warren residents who can provide that base, he added.

        The hospital's planned move — onto a proposed 550-acre campus of health- and technology-related research and education facilities — has met with resistance:

        • Some Middletown residents are upset that their longtime hospital will be farther from them.

        • Prospective new neighbors in Warren County's Turtlecreek Township are worried about traffic, development and city annexation that could accompany the hospital.

        As those discussions continue, UC Physicians and the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati announced Thursday that they will build an ambulatory surgery center in six months, and possibly a 100-bed hospital in three to five years.

        That project — called University Pointe — is less than 10 miles south of Middletown Regional's proposed site.

        But there are enough patients to go around, Mr. Fox said: “They're called baby boomers.

        “(Health care) is a growth industry, and there's plenty of room in the market for quality care,” he added.

        West Chester Administrator David Gully agreed.

        “(University Pointe) is more research- and high tech-specific care, whereas Middletown is more general care. I think they complement each other.”

        A concentration of health- and research-related development in one area could actually mean more business for both, Mr. Gully said.

Boycott's sting gains intensity
Slaughterhouse escapee at large
Bust weeds out drug suspects
Custody case in final court
Boy skier 'serious' after hitting tree
Three in I-275 wreck still in hospitals
Judges vote to execute killer of 3
Mount St. Joe raises tuition
Portune's hoping to sell tax
Price Hill evening is fund-raiser
Tristate A.M. Report
MCNUTT: Neighborhoods
RADEL: Topic topic
SAMPLES: God-given right
THOMPSON: Faith Matters
Families flocking to new YMCA
Hamilton close to double-dip OK
Historic barn could move
Hospital feeling competition
Employee: Top staff paid cash to Traficant
Proposed bill could protect nursing homes from civil suits
Student kept locked up after dynamite scare
Kenton workers win back pay
Sheriff now investigating stable fire
Sinn Fein's Adams back in town to raise funds, ring peace bell
Three Catholic schools to merge into two