By Steve Kemme
The Cincinnati Enquirer

WEST CHESTER TWP. - A short-stay surgical hospital and cardiology center will be built at University Pointe, the UC Physicians' new medical campus here, a move to better address the health-care needs of this growing area.

Construction of the 25,800-square-foot center, which will contain four operating rooms, an endoscopy suite, a cardiac catheterization lab, an electrophysiology lab and six inpatient rooms, will begin this summer.

The hospital and cardiology center, a joint project of the UC Physicians and the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati, will open in early 2004.

This new center, which will cost $7 million to $8 million, will reduce the need for those living in the booming northern fringes of Greater Cincinnati to drive to Corryville medical facilities for common cardiac procedures and simple surgeries that require no more than a two-day hospital stay. "We wanted to put facilities where we saw the population growing and where we were hearing from our patients that they needed better access," said John Gillespie, director of marketing and development for UC Physicians.

Dr. Michael Privitera, medical director of UC Physicians and a neurologist, said surveys of patients, referring physicians, hospital systems and managed health care organizations indicated a strong need for the center in the Butler-Warren area.

"It's clear from our survey there is a shortage in almost every medical specialty in that area," he said.

UC Physicians, which has 500 expert physicians, has a new medical office building at 75-acre University Pointe on Cox Road and offices in Montgomery and Corryville.

UC Physicians and the Miller-Valentine Group also have announced plans to construct a second office building that will be connected to the hospital and cardiology center.

This second office building, which will provide leased space for community physicians, will open at the same time as the hospital and cardiology center.

Construction already has begun on a helipad at University Pointe. It will serve as a base for one of University Air Care's two helicopters.

Dale Bradford, a partner of the health care consulting firm of Scheller-Bradford Inc. in Anderson Township, said the hospital and cardiology center project in West Chester is a positive development for local health care.

"What they're doing at University Pointe is taking very common, simple medical procedures out to the people," he said. "That's the way it ought to be done."

West Chester Township Trustee Catherine Stoker said the center is a welcome, needed addition to the area. Ms. Stoker said it will be convenient for the many elderly residents of West Chester and southern Liberty Township who use van service provided by West Chester and Butler County Senior Services to go to medical appointments.

"When the van service has to take somebody to Bethesda North Hospital or the Cincinnati Eye Institute, it ties up a van for an hour each way," said Ms. Stoker, vice president of Butler County Senior Services. "Since we won't have to travel so far when we can go to University Pointe, we will be able to assist more people."

E-mail skemme@enquirer.com