TMCnet News
ECHD considers $10 million expansion contractFeb 04, 2013 (Odessa American - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The Ector County Hospital District will consider approving a $10 million contract for the expansion of Medical Center Hospital's health and wellness center during its board of directors meeting Tuesday. The agreement with Cooper Construction, if approved, will set a guaranteed maximum price of $10,035,000 for the construction, which Medical Center Health Systems CEO Bill Webster said should be completed by March 2014. The expansion will also house the hospital's new V.A. clinic. ECHD's Finance Committee will also consider approving the purchase of telemetry equipment -- equipment that monitors heart rhythms, breathing and other vital signs -- throughout the hospital's patient care areas. This $1.002 million purchase, Webster said, will be the final phase of an equipment upgrade and standardization that has been in the works for a few years. The purchase will also help stock up 7 Central, a unit on MCH's seventh floor that the hospital is currently renovating to accommodate a planned medical education program with Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. Those renovations are expected to be finished by this fall. The board will also: --Consider an addendum to a hospitalist agreement with IN Compass Health, a staffing contractor that manages the in-house physicians at MCH. The addendum will allow MCH to bring in more hospitalists to respond to what Webster described as a growing number of patients the hospital has had to treat during the ongoing oil boom within Odessa and the Permian Basin. --Consider approving electrical and medical gas upgrades for 7 Central to bring the unit up to standard. --Consider the purchase of a new ultrasound system. --Listen to an annual audit report for fiscal year 2012, and receive an investment report for the first quarter of fiscal year 2013. Follow Odessa American on twitter @OdessaAmerican, like us on Facebook at Odessa American or call 432-333-7714 for the main newsroom line. ___ (c)2013 the Odessa American (Odessa, Texas) Visit the Odessa American (Odessa, Texas) at www.oaoa.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |