A new off-site medical clinic extension proposed by Mercy Medical Center in North Liberty will not require a certificate of need review from the Iowa Health Facilities Council.
Members of the council voted unanimously in a special meeting Tuesday that the Mercy Medical Center proposal does not meet the threshold for Certificate of Need reviewability, and will be allowed under current licensing standards.
That determination was based on a number of factors, according to a project summary reviewed by council members:
- The proposed Johnson County clinic, to be located about 18 miles from Mercy Medical Center’s main campus, would be operated under Mercy’s existing license, as opposed to requiring a separate license.
- The off-site location would not affect services at Mercy’s main campus in Cedar Rapids, and would only provide a “subset” of those services.
- The project’s total first-year cost of $1.48 million, including $1.184 million for a facility lease and $296,000 in capital expenditures, falls under the council’s $1.5 million reviewability threshold. However, according to meeting documents, if the project increases in cost beyond the $1.5 million threshold, Mercy Cedar Rapids will need to go through the certificate of need application process.
- The off-site location does not involve relocation or deletion of existing services at Mercy Medical Center’s main campus.
- As proposed, the project does not involve the establishment of a new institutional health facility, as have the latest health care facility projects in Johnson County, including the $525 million University of Iowa Health Care campus and the $29 million Steindler Orthopedic Clinic ambulatory surgery center, both under construction in North Liberty.
The off-site location facility would be owned by a to-be-formed real estate entity, with Mercy Medical Center leasing the building from that entity.
Many details of the project haven’t yet been disclosed, including the exact location, size, number of employees, services offered and projected opening date.
Mercy Medical Center currently operates a family medicine clinic at 1765 Lininger Lane in North Liberty. It’s not clear if that clinic would be impacted by the hospital’s new North Liberty proposal.
