By Chris Miller, Assistant Editor, Facility Market

Nebraska’s Kimball Health Services (KHS) has received approval for a $23.4 million loan for the construction of a new hospital, according to News Channel Nebraska. The loan comes from the U.S Department of Agriculture’s Community Facilities Direct Loan Program. This loan covers almost 75 percent of the $32 million the new facility is projected to cost. Construction will begin in early fall due to the help of the loan.

The health organization intends for the remaining funds to be dealt with by a $6.4 million general obligation revenue bond that will be approved by the county commissioners and $2.2 from a fundraising campaign. Since KHS is building a critical access hospital, Medicare is expected to reimburse KHS for over 50 percent of project costs. 

The need for a new hospital comes as KHS is witnessing increased demand for its services and does not have any room to expand. In the past five years, hospital discharges increased 24 percent, specialty clinic visits increased 65 percent, imaging services increased by 50 percent, and surgeries increased from 16 in 2016 to 303 in 2019, according to the Western Nebraska Observer.

Much of the current hospital is still original construction from 1950. The new health care facility will be located at the former West Elementary School structure. This 20,000 square-foot building will be renovated, and there will also be construction of a new 40,000-square-foot hospital attached to it.

Primary upgrades to the new hospital will include: larger inpatient rooms and bathrooms to meet current federal standards; widened major corridors; the addition of in-house MRI and CT scanner services; and additional patient services such as mammography, cardiac rehabilitation, chemotherapy infusions, orthopedic procedures. 

The $23.4 million loan is a part of a national $266 million program to enhance rural community facilities and essential services for 3 million residents in 16 states and Puerto Rico. $156 million is for the support of health-care-related improvements and emergency response services.

Examples of other projects include: a $4 million loan given to a Washington state health network to purchase a building it leases to provide community health services; an $88 million loan given to a New Jersey heart and lung center to upgrade double-occupancy, in-patient rooms to private suits; and a $5 million loan given to a Michigan community hospital to purchase and renovate a nearby building for expanded services.