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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Alegent Creighton Health is planning to replace Creighton University's hospital with a new $35 million medical facility in northeast Omaha.
The company announced the 90,000-square-foot project on Sunday. Construction is scheduled to begin next spring, and the facility should be ready in late 2016.
The new facility at 24th and Cuming Streets will offer outpatient and emergency services. But Alegent Creighton is planning to move most of Creighton University's in-patient services, including trauma care, to its Bergan Mercy Medical Center near 75th Street and Mercy Road in 2017.
Omaha City Councilman Ben Gray said he's glad the company will maintain an emergency department in the area, which is on the edge of downtown and near several low-income neighborhoods.
"Keeping an emergency department at this location is very important and valuable," Gray said. "Also important is having primary care physicians and ambulatory services because this is often where members of our community fall through the cracks. This is very positive."
Alegent Health bought Creighton University's hospital and network of doctors' offices around Omaha in 2012. The new facility announced Sunday is a byproduct of that deal.
The new facility is designed to provide medical care without providing hospitalization. Alegent Creighton CEO Dr. Cliff Robertson said the facility is designed to address the neighborhood's needs.
"This is the future of health care," he said.
Creighton University's family medicine residency program will be based at the facility. Thirty physicians and 24 residents will be there.
If a patient needs to see a specialist who isn't based at the facility, doctors will be able to use technology to conduct a virtual visit with a patient from another facility across town, said Dr. Rick Rolston, CEO of Alegent Creighton Clinic.
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