Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
A medical residency training center that would be the first of its kind in Wisconsin would move into the former Shawano Medical Center after the hospital relocates later this year under a preliminary agreement reached between the city, ThedaCare and a development group.
The center would cater to medical school graduates, potentially from across the country, who will need additional training in residency to qualify for licensing.
“There’s no limit in my mind how big or how far this could go,” said Dr. Jonathan Boy, who would serve as director of development for the center.
Boy, a Shawano resident since March, is originally from Tennessee and served 22 years in the Army as a health care administrator.
“The only thing limiting us is our imagination and our will to succeed and our audacity in approaching the market,” he said. “There’s no reason why this can’t set a new standard and Shawano become a household word throughout the state and maybe throughout the country.”
City Administrator Brian Knapp said the initial agreement between the three parties is a first step in the process.
“The point at which we’re at now is, we’re making the facility available for them to plan and prepare for and get everything they need to open it up and utilize it as a residency training center,” Knapp said.
There was no specific timeline for how long it would take to be fully in operation, but expectations were that it would happen within the next two years.
The group would take immediate occupancy of the hospital, however, after SMC vacates and would maintain the building and set up offices there.
“This is a very complicated project,” said Todd Schultz, lead consultant on the project. “There are layers of certifications and other activities that have to take place to get the program started.”
Schultz represents a for-profit holding company that would acquire the property, which would go on the tax rolls. A nonprofit 501(c)3 would be set up to operate the program.
Knapp said the center would create 100 jobs within the next two years, with the possibility of additional jobs to follow.
That could translate to a roughly $14 million a year economic boost for the community, according to Knapp.
“That’s just from the employment,” he said. “That doesn’t include the purchasing of equipment and supplies in the area.”
Currently, only the hospital clinic is on the tax rolls, assessed at about $2 million. The addition of the rest of the hospital campus would triple that, Knapp said.
The agreement also calls for the development group to reimburse the city for the costs it has incurred marketing the property and clearing the title.
That includes the $250,000 settlement that was paid to the heirs of Susan Smalley, the original owner of a roughly 3.5-acre parcel acquired by the city in 1901 that eventually became home to Shawano Medical Center.
The hospital expanded over the years, and ThedaCare now owns about two-thirds of the hospital campus.
“In the spirit of partnership with the city, ThedaCare will essentially donate the Shawano hospital building and about 6 acres of land to the development in return for releasing ThedaCare of all future liabilities associated with the existing building and land and the development of the property,” SMC President and CEO Dorothy Erdmann said.
“The Schultz group also will purchase the six residential properties in the area that Shawano Medical Center Foundation currently owns,” she said.
The project won’t change the existing public access to the Wolf River or have any impact on the neighborhood, according to city officials.
Knapp said an asset purchase agreement being negotiated should be before the Common Council no later than its meeting in July.
Schultz said he and his associates had been evaluating different locations and facilities in Wisconsin for a residency training center for about three years, and started evaluating the SMC property in October 2013.
He said the group entered into discussions with the city and ThedaCare last August.
“Geographically, this wound up to be the perfect scenario to be able to build this program in this part of the state, with the emphasis on rural medicine,” Schultz said.
Schultz said different studies have shown that there is a shortfall of anywhere from 85 to 120 physicians a year, particularly in primary care.
“We have an opportunity to have a major impact on that problem,” he said.
Schultz said studies have also shown that 2,500 young men and women from Wisconsin apply to medical schools every year, while an average of 250 students — not all of them from Wisconsin — are accepted into medical schools in the state.
“So you can see how many kids leave the state of Wisconsin,” Schultz said.
The residency training center, according to Schultz, would not only address the doctor shortage, but also would stem the “talent and brain-drain” of students leaving the state.
“Eighty-five percent of the people who conduct their residency in a geographic region stay there for most of their life practicing,” Schultz said.
“I think everybody’s aware of the doctor shortage nationwide and in Wisconsin in particular, and it’s getting worse every day,” Boy said. “The federal government increased medical school slots by 10 percent and several osteopathic schools opened at the same time. So now there’s going to be a huge influx of physicians who have an MD who have no place to go for training and many places are actually reducing their residency slots.”
Mayor Lorna Marquardt said the project has the potential to substantially enhance the local economy.
“I see this as a project that will create excitement throughout the state and put Shawano on the map,” she said. “It will bring to Shawano trained medical staff of private practice professionals from across the state and possibly even from out of state. It will bring medical students here to receive training.
“I am glad the existing hospital building will have this new exciting purpose and will continue to be utilized. The job creation and increase to our tax base will have a huge impact on our city’s ability to move forward in a very positive way.”
Dennis Heling, chief economic development officer for Shawano County Economic Progress Inc., said the project could also spur growth in other health care-related activities.
“Once you have an industry cluster, you start attracting other services,” he said. “You might see a business that would develop to manufacture health-related components or parts.”
Heling said the project could have long-term positive impact for decades.
“I think this is one of the most impactful, if not the most impactful project I’ve been involved in,” he said. “I think it’s going to position us for the future, not only in health care, but technologies. I think it’s really an exciting time for this community, the region and adjoining counties.”
Erdmann said ThedaCare was pleased to have reached an agreement with the city on a possible redevelopment proposal for the hospital property.
“Over the past two years, we have worked in partnership with the city to identify redevelopment opportunities for the 11-acre site,” she said.
That included a city-led task force that gathered community input through public forums in 2013 with the assistance of Vandewalle and Associates, which had been hired by ThedaCare.
The city and ThedaCare also partnered to hire a firm to market the property.
The training center was one of two proposals discussed in closed session in April by the Common Council, Plan Commission, Industrial and Commercial Development Committee and ThedaCare representatives.
Marquardt said the council and the two committees unanimously endorsed the training center.
According to sources at the city, the other proposal was an assisted living facility, but that could not be confirmed because of the closed session nature of the discussions.
“As the city takes the lead on this project, we are confident that Mayor Marquardt and her team will work hard to turn their concept into a reality for the Shawano community,” Erdmann said. “The mayor’s passion and willingness to take ownership of this project has been the difference from the start and demonstrates her commitment to the project going forward.”
story created on Thursday 6/4/2015 at 10:44:46 am by Tim Ryan
story modified on Thursday 6/4/2015 at 7:05:04 pm by Lee Pulaski
