MT. COMFORT — Hancock Health expects to start seeing patients in September at its new outpatient facility under development near Mt. Comfort.
Work has been under way near Interstate 70 and Mt. Comfort Road since last fall on the facility, which will provide imaging, lab and immediate-care services.
The two-story building is framed, and much of its interior has been dry-walled.
Jenn Cox, marketing director for Hancock Health, helped arrange a tour on Friday to update community leaders on progress at the facility. She said the first floor is about 18,000 square feet and the second floor is about 15,000 square feet.
Cox said the main floor will provide CT scans, MRIs, ultrasounds, X-rays, lab services, immediate care and eventually mammography.
Patients will be able to flow through all their needed services at the site as a “continuum of care,” Cox said. She added the ultimate goal is to provide patients with global bills that will include costs for each service in one invoice rather than a separate one for each service.
Hospital rates for diagnostic testing and lab work are higher than independent providers’ of those services, Cox said. The new Mt. Comfort facility will be a separate business unit from Hancock Regional Hospital, she added, allowing it to offer those services at prices comparable to independent providers.
“Health care is looked at from a retail perspective,” Cox said. “People are shopping, and people are comparing prices.”
Cox said the new facility’s ground floor will also have offices and a “social hub” for its smaller, more isolated team compared to the “hustle and bustle” of Hancock Regional Hospital in Greenfield.
Hancock Health doesn’t intend to be isolated in Mt. Comfort for long. The health care provider owns about 140 acres surrounding the new facility and has worked with the county to establish development rules for the area. Hancock Health’s plan envisions bringing corporate, retail, hospitality and institutional uses to what it’s calling Hancock Gateway Park.
Cox said Hancock Health will build roads and bring other infrastructure to the area, which is at the southwest quadrant of the I-70/Mt. Comfort interchange. She added the organization is working with NineStar Connect to erect a water tower on the property to supply water pressure that will be needed for developments that follow.
About a third of the Mt. Comfort facility’s second floor will become a community center able to seat 225 to 300, depending on how it’s ultimately configured, Cox said. The remainder will be shell space that will be able to be developed based on options Hancock Health is considering.
Cox said one of those options is outpatient rehabilitation, which patients can often find more cheaply at independent facilities, much like diagnostic testing and lab work. As Hancock Health weighs this decision, it’s keeping in mind a new wellness center it is building in New Palestine as part of its strategy to expand in the county’s western townships, Cox added.
“There’s a lot of moving parts,” she said.
