Mount Carmel Health System has announced it will move Mount Carmel West from Franklinton to Grove City.
It is a more than $700 million deal for Mount Carmel to transform its three campuses - Mt Carmel East, West and Grove City. The hospital at Mount Carmel West in Franklinton will move to Grove City, taking with it hundreds of patient beds and 1,500 jobs.
The plan includes a $355 million, 210 bed hospital in Grove City, $310 million for a new tower that includes a 128 bed facility at Mount Carmel East - for a total of 400 beds, and $46 million for demolition and renovation at Mount Carmel West.
Franklinton is where Mount Carmel opened more than 130 years ago. Though it will lose its inpatient hospital, Mount Carmel West will maintain a 24-hour emergency department, an expanded College of Nursing, and its Community Health Resource Center.
It would appear that Grove City's gain is Franklinton's loss.
Mount Carmel says it is not backing away from its commitment to the people and future of Franklinton. "This is about having the right health care at the right place at the right time and when you look at the utilization of this community, the highest utilization we get from this community is outpatient services, and that's our commitment, that those services will continue to be here. As we look at the greater Columbus community, which is really the community that we also serve, the most appropriate place for beds is in the Grove City area,” said Claus von Zychlin, President & CEO
Franklinton Board Of Trade Executive Director Trent Smith says he believes it’s a mixed bag of news for Franklinton. “I would never want to deny that the immediate pain is going to be there. But overall, in the optimistic point of view, this is going to be good for Franklinton in the long run.”
Mount Carmel says it will result in no net job loss between its three central Ohio facilities, while 300 jobs will remain at Mount Carmel West.
The demolition and transformation will begin in 2019, after the completion of the transfer to Grove City in 2018.
