Group Health Associates Moving to New Building on Good Sam Campus

Jan. 18, 2011 - TriHealth has announced plans to build a new Medical Office Building (MOB) to more closely connect one of its medical groups, Group Health Associates (GHA), with one of its hospitals, Good Samaritan, a move which will improve quality and capacity of care in Cincinnati while also stimulating the local economy.

Group Health Associates will relocate its existing Clifton office, located at 2915 Clifton Ave. No plans have been made as of yet for the existing office space.

Patients will benefit by receiving an unparalleled level of quality and integration of care without having to sacrifice convenience of location or accessibility. For the hospital and physicians, this will enhance their relationship and collaborative opportunities. And for the community at large, Uptown Cincinnati will experience a surge in economic growth.

The new MOB will add 65,000 square feet of space to the existing Good Samaritan Hospital campus. It will be located on top of the surface level parking lot by the Dixmyth lobby. Ground was broken Jan. 3, 2011 with an anticipated opening date of summer 2012.

“This effort is a true partnership between the physicians at Group Health Associates’ Clifton office and Good Samaritan Hospital. The ‘Tri’ in ‘TriHealth’ represents the partnership between Physicians, Hospitals and Community, and this project is the embodiment of what the TriHealth system stands for,” said Jerry Oliphant, executive vice president and chief operating officer of TriHealth. “Closer collaboration between physicians and the hospital will also aid in the continuing pursuit of our mission ‘to improve the health status of our community,’” added Oliphant.

The new Medical Office Building will offer easy, direct entry from the street to GHA services (ie: primary and specialty physician offices, pharmacy, physical therapy, imaging services, and more), while also providing patients with convenient access to the hospital

While Group Health Associates will not be adding much square footage to its existing office space, the new space is being designed to complement how a full-service multi-specialty physician practice operates in today’s health care environment. The efficiency of the design will make possible the medical group’s plans for growth while also allowing the practice to remain true to its unique medical-center operational model. Under that model, GHA patients have access to primary care and specialists under one roof alongside a variety of ancillary services, such as pharmacy and imaging. Current plans call for the recruitment of 10-12 new specialty physicians. Growth will be focused on surgical-based specialties such as OB, Gastroenterology and Orthopedics.

"The new facility will provide Group Health Associates with a state-of-the-art medical center that will allow us to grow as we serve the community in partnership with Good Samaritan Hospital,” stated David Morad, M.D., president and chairman of the board for Group Health Associates. “The proximity to Good Samaritan gives GHA the ability to capitalize on our specialty and subspecialty strengths as a member of the TriHealth system.More importantly, the new center will allow our patients to benefit from being part of a truly integrated health care delivery system while maintaining convenient access to medical care, wellness and prevention programming.”

In addition to being an investment in the health of the Greater Cincinnati region, this project also will drive economic growth, particularly in the Uptown community. It’s because of the MOB’s numerous benefits to Cincinnati’s urban communities that Uptown Consortium was able to help secure lower cost financing for the project, making it feasible for TriHealth to pursue without compromising on its longstanding value of stewardship. The Consortium utilized its Uptown Partners’ Loan Pool, in partnership with Cincinnati Development Fund’s Uptown New Market Tax Credits Fund to attract equity investors to the project, including PNC Bank, Fifth Third and JP Morgan Chase Bank. The total project cost is $25 - $27 million.

“Our Uptown neighborhoods are considered Cincinnati’s frontier to the international community, due in large part to the leadership of our medical partners,” said Beth Robinson, Uptown Consortium president. “This strategic move by TriHealth plays a major role in Uptown’s ability to help broaden our region’s medical capacity and, in turn, our overall economic impact.”

The Uptown Consortium was founded by the chief executive officers of Uptown’s largest employers—TriHealth, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, UC Health and the University of Cincinnati—and the director of the area’s largest tourist attraction, the Cincinnati Zoo. The Consortium’s areas of focus are public safety, transportation, housing, economic development, and integrated social services for neighborhood residents.

“The Consortium was formed to apply our collective resources to improve the physical environment and the quality of life in the Uptown communities that surround the founding institutions,” said John Prout, president and chief executive officer of TriHealth, and board chairman of Uptown Consortium. “We recognized that in order for our organizations to continue to grow and flourish, we must have a vibrant community. We further acknowledged that by collaborating with each other, and with the community, we can accomplish much more. The new Medical Office Building is just one more example of our commitment to our community, Uptown Cincinnati.”