By Mary Jo Feldstein, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 26, 2008

 

Washington University School of Medicine is bringing its lessons to west St. Louis County with a doubling of its presence at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital.

 

More than 35 medical specialists and subspecialists will occupy offices of about 100,000 square feet on the campus in Creve Coeur.

 

An inpatient cardiology unit and a West County expansion of the Siteman Cancer Center are among the additional services that will be offered. The new programs should be fully implemented by the end of next year. BJC and Washington University will spend $17 million on construction and new equipment.

 

The new services being offered at West County do not make it an academic medical center such as Barnes-Jewish Hospital in Central West End, but they do allow more patients to get care closer to home.

 

Dr. James Crane, chief executive of Washington University Physicians, said patients want to receive care close to home whenever possible. This can be especially true for cancer patients who often must undergo frequent treatments.

 

The hospital will redesign a physician office building into a satellite campus for Siteman. It will replace a smaller nearby office that had been used by oncologists. The purchase of a new linear accelerator will allow patients in the new center to receive radiation treatment for first time at Barnes-Jewish West County campus. The new offices also will double the number of exam rooms and infusion bays. A new CT scanner at the offices can be used for treatment planning.

 

"It''s a significant expansion of cancer services," said Dr. Andy Ziskind, president of Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Barnes-Jewish West County. "Basically, it will serve as an extension of Siteman."

 

The plans also include an inpatient cardiology telemetry unit. Though serious cases will still need to go elsewhere, the hospital will be able to treat low- to moderate-risk patients such as those with chest pain, arrhythmias and cardiac infections.

 

Ziskind said the expansion continues a tradition on the West County campus of Washington University physicians working with private physicians.

 

BJC Healthcare, which owns Barnes-Jewish in Central West End and Barnes-Jewish West County, also owns nearby Missouri Baptist Medical Center in Town and Country. Though Missouri Baptist offers extensive cancer treatment and more intensive cardiac care than the expanded West County facility, Ziskind said its not a duplication of services. He said the system is mindful of using capital resources wisely and doesn''t feel like the addition competes with its BJC sister hospital.

 

"There are always going to be situations where there is competition in the same general marketplace," Ziskind said. "I have not seen a time where I thought competition was inappropriate or even contentious."