The University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) has planned a new location in Ridgeland for education and multidisciplinary purposes.
The facility will be located on 36.3429 acres north of Colony Park Boulevard and west of I-55. Ridgeland’s Director of Public Works Alan Hart said they have not received any submittal regarding the project at this time, but there is an idea as to what the main purpose of the facility will be.
“I anticipate that they will propose an Ambulatory Care Center and some Medical Office Building(s),” Hart said.
In UMMC’s application for the project to the Mississippi State Department of Health, UMMC proposes a 67,500 square-foot multi-disciplinary, educational campus. It will include a medical office building, multi-specialty Ambulatory Surgery Center, imaging center, and multimedia classrooms. The project will also include three multimedia classrooms, four student work rooms, two resident work rooms, 36 exam rooms, six operating rooms, two procedure rooms, one CT, one magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) unit, one ultrasound suite, one linear accelerator and one diagnostic radiology suite.
“You state the project has been principally designed to train health professionals by utilizing a combination of classroom, exam, diagnostic and ambulatory surgical capacity,” Office of Health Policy and Planning Director Christin Williams wrote in a letter in response to the application. “You state the surgical capacity at UMMC’s main campus is limited, which constrains teaching opportunities.”
Williams wrote that UMMC’s application stated the project is projected to allow UMMC to increase academic opportunities for students and trainees in facilities with healthcare settings that will better match the providers where many will eventually be employed – outside of the academic medical center setting. The new facility is to address physician and nurse shortages in outpatient care and delivery.
“You state by expanding clinical educational opportunities, UMMC School of Medicine’s physician education capacity wil also expand,” Williams wrote. “You also state the project is a critical component of the UMMC School of Nursing’s plan to increase enrollment by 25 percent to address the nursing shortage facing the state and nation.”
The total capital expenditure is expected to be $64,438,800, according to the application. While Hart doesn’t have information regarding the timeline of the project, he does know what some benefits for the city will be. With UMMC choosing Ridgeland for this location, it will provide medical services to the city and provide economic development.
“Medical services are a critical part of a city,” Hart said. “We have always sought to support medical uses in Ridgeland. From an economic development standpoint, this property will likely employ 100s of people leading to an increase in people to support the surrounding businesses. It can result in an increase in property values as newcomers look to live closer to their place of employment.”
Hart said they don’t have many details about this project yet, but they anticipate a submittal soon. UMMC Communications officials said nothing is finalized yet, so they are not commenting about the project at this time.
