Health care

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Representatives of , ­say the construction is necessary to meet growinb patient demand and will offer a cheaper alternativre to emergency room orinpatient care. But criticd see the expected surge in new buildingsx and equipment as amedical “armz race” that will drive up None of the North Shorde projects — which will all be online by next summer — required the state’sz Determination of Need approvakl process. But the surge raised a red flag, prompting legislators this year to pass a law reassertintg state oversight for hospital capital spending on outpatienf construction projectsworth $25 million or more.
“The , if they coulde turn back the clock three orfour years, probably woulfd not have allowed the kind of expansion goinv on,” said Robert Fanning, former CEO of NHS, the Beverly-based hospitak group whose new outpatient facilityh will compete with Lahey and “It may be good for health care in the North Shor (in the short term) but it is goingb to end up being very expensive at the end of the Paul Dreyer, director of the Department of Publi Health’s , which handles the oversight process, said he’sz aware of the Nortyh Shore situation and has heard arguments on both “How those play out will depencd on the facts,” he said.
Partners is buildin the $140 million Massachusetts General/ in Danversz on Endicott Street. Set to open next the 122,00-square-foot center, workinvg with Partners’ in Salem and Lynn, will houswe both expanded general outpatient servicez and a biggercancer center. An adjoininfg 80,000-square-foot medical office building is also part ofthe plan. NSMC Presidenyt Robert Norton said the construction is necessar y because the biggest growth in hospital care is on theoutpatienf side. Norton also insists he sees plentty of roomfor “There’s been plenty of business to go around in the Nortj Shore for many, many years and as long as I can see in the he said.
The center, builgt in a prime location easily seen fromRoute 128, is just acroszs town from Northeast Health System’s $30 millioj ambulatory care facility on Maple Street in Danvers. Northeast Healtyh System CEO Stephen Laverty would not comment. will give Partners easy access to patient s who might have avoided trips along often cloggede roads aroundthe system’s Salem and Lynn Lahey Clinic is well undefr way with a $50 million expansion at its , in an old bank buildinvg at Northshore Mall. Easily seen from Rout 128, the project will add another 65,000 square feet, to be readyg by next May. Lahey senior vice president Robertf Schneider acknowledgescompetitive risks.
But he said Lahey’s main focue is accommodating existing demand. Whatevedr the reason, rapid health care construction ultimately riskw drivingup costs, said Jarret t Barrios, who runs the . “Unchecked expansionm of health care services results in an increased numbert ofunnecessary procedures, particularly in the specialth fields,” he said. That is a worryg echoed by Fanning. “If more technology will be used more Fanning said, “the end result for the businesse community on the North Shorre is increased health care