McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center’s much-anticipated freestanding emergency department in Eugene will go on a vacant parcel just west of Chambers Street, plans filed with the city show.
Many Eugene residents have been awaiting news after the Springfield hospital’s CEO declared eight months ago that McKenzie-Willamette would open an emergency department somewhere in Eugene, without providing specifics. The lack of updates since then led some Eugene residents to fear the project stalled.
But it is very much alive.
The single-story 19,000-square-foot building would go on a large parking lot between West 6th and West 7th avenues, the preliminary plans show.
The hospital’s spokesperson did not respond this week to Eugene Weekly. The draft plans and questions recently submitted by McKenzie-Willamette’s architect to the city did not include a construction timeline.
McKenzie-Willamette’s September announcement followed PeaceHealth’s bitterly criticized decision to close the PeaceHealth Sacred Heart University District hospital near the University of Oregon, including the emergency department, and consolidate emergency operations at PeaceHealth’s RiverBend hospital in Springfield. The move left Springfield (population 62,000) with two emergency departments and Eugene (population 178,000) with none.
Nonprofit PeaceHealth cited persistent financial losses at the University District complex. But for-profit McKenzie-Willamette saw the closure left an emergency services void in Eugene, especially in the city’s fast-growing west and northwest neighborhoods.
McKenzie-Willamette still faces hurdles. It needs city planning approval. The targeted parcel is zoned community commercial, and McKenzie-Willamette is seeking confirmation its medical building is allowed there. The hospital is also consulting with city staff over parking, traffic issues, landscaping and more. Plus, McKenzie-Willamette needs approval from the Oregon Health Authority, which reviews new medical capital construction projects.
The west Eugene site is owned by John and Corinne Kiefer of Reno, Nevada, owners of the Mazda and Kia car dealerships in Eugene, property records show. The lot is across West 7th Avenue from the Kia dealership.
Freestanding emergency departments — EDs that are not within a hospital complex — are uncommon. It’s unclear whether there are any in Oregon. Nationwide, there are about 700, out of a total of roughly 5,000 emergency departments, research reports show. About half the freestanding ones are in Texas.
Last September, McKenzie-Willamette CEO David Butler announced his hospital had an investor, a developer and a site for a 12-bed Eugene emergency department. He provided no location specifics.
Many hospitals in Oregon complain they are losing money. But McKenzie-Willamette reaped spectacular profits pre-pandemic, and has eked out slender profits the last few years.
Historically, McKenzie-Willamette had one of the highest profit rates among Oregon’s 60 acute-care inpatient hospitals. During the pandemic, it incurred an operating loss in only a single year, 2020. Last year, it had a profit of $5.4 million on revenues of $274 million. Pre-pandemic, the hospital had eye-popping profits — for example, $32 million in 2019 and $50 million in 2015, according to its filings with the OHA.
The hospital is owned by privately held for-profit Tennessee-based Quorum Health Corp., which owns 12 hospitals in nine states. Quorum doesn’t disclose financials for the group as a whole. Available data indicate McKenzie-Willamette is one of its most profitable facilities.