ProMedica, ManorCare jointly plan rehab facility on Flower Hospital campus

The Flower Hospital campus in Sylvania is to be the site of a new skilled nursing and rehabilitation center. Its location on the campus has yet to be decided.

Saying that the future of health care will be shaped by collaborative relationships, officials from Toledo-based ProMedica and HCR ManorCare announced plans Thursday to jointly build a skilled nursing and rehabilitation center.

The multimillion-dollar facility will be built on the ProMedica Flower Hospital campus in Sylvania, and ultimately replace ProMedica’s 200-bed Lake Park rehab facility.

Officials said the goal of the new facility is to improve how patients make the transition from regular hospitals to their own homes.

“Lake Park has served the community very well for almost 50 years, but this is an opportunity to write that next chaper and build a state-of-the-art facility," said Randy Schimmoeller, senior vice president of operations for ProMedica Continuing Care Services Corp.

The proposed 120-bed facility would have 24-hour skilled nursing care, a special gym, more private rooms equipped with flat-screen televisions, and more on-site personal care services, including a barber shop and beauty shop. HCR ManorCare recently opened similar facilities in Michigan, New Jersey, and Washington state and has a project in the works near Cleveland.

Officials said the center will be more like a home and less like a hospital.

“When you look at skilled nursing facilities, today’s standard is more like a home setting, a home-type model. One hundred twenty beds is kind of the standard,” Mr. Schimmoeller said. “We want this to be a facility that has that feel, and as we go forward we’ll develop transitional plans for patients and manage it in a way that we’re meeting all the needs of the patients.”

GerryAnn Stolzenburg, HCR ManorCare regional director of operations, said the core mission of the center is getting patients stronger and getting them home as quickly and safely as possible.

The center will focus on short-term patients, although Ms. Stolzenburg said lengths of stays will vary significantly with patients’ needs.

The center is expected to open in 2015.

It is contingent on the companies securing regulatory approval from the Ohio Department of Health, a process expected to take 6 to 12 months.

Officials said details weren’t available on the center’s total cost or how the investment would be split between the two.

“This is really an opportunity to bring two local companies together, bring our expertise, our resources together and really create a facility that will focus on skilled rehab care in the community, and do it in a way that is good for the community and good for the patient,” Mr. Schimmoeller said.

Ms. Stolzenburg said working with ProMedica to develop the center for Toledo fits the coming model of health care in the United States.

“There is a change and a shift in how our health care is. It’s not going to be the same as it is now 10 years from now. We have to work more with each other instead of in our own areas. ... This is bringing together the experts and making better decisions overall rather than in everyone’s own specialty. That is going to provide much better care for the community.”

The two companies also plan to create a quality committee that includes experts from the two health-care providers.

Officials say that committee will help improve communication, act as a liaison for patients and their families, and help keep patients from having to return to hospitals.

Design details and where on the hospital campus the facility will be built are yet to be sorted out.

Officials also said it’s too early to say what the future will be for the Lake Park center, which is connected to the main hospital building but has its own entrance and parking lot.

ProMedica and HCR ManorCare are both headquartered in Toledo.

ProMedica has 11 hospitals and 306 facilities that offer a variety of services.

It has more than 14,000 employees, including nearly 1,700 physicians.

ManorCare has hundreds of skilled nursing and rehabilitation centers nationwide, including 45 in Ohio.

Its six facilities in northwest Ohio operate under the Heartland name.

Contact Tyrel Linkhorn at: tlinkhorn@theblade.com or 419-724-6134.