University Medical Center in Tucson opened a new emergency room last week, part of the hospital’s $200 million capital improvement program financed with proceeds from $137 million of revenue bonds sold in 2005 and another $55 million of bonds sold in March of this year.
The new emergency room and trauma unit is twice the size of the old one, which opened in 1994. The old emergency room will serve as the lobby of a dedicated children’s medical center within the hospital that is to open next year.
The 355-bed University Medical Center is the sole academic medical facility in the state and the only Level 1 trauma center in southern Arizona. The medical center campus contains the University of Arizona’s health-related facilities and the Arizona Health Sciences Center.
The upgrade will allow the hospital to treat more than 110,000 emergency cases a year. The new facility includes a 16-bed clinical decision unit where patients can be observed.
In addition to the new emergency room, bond proceeds are financing construction of a new 88-bed patient tower with two floors of unused space for future expansion.
The hospital’s revenue bonds are rated Baa1 by Moody’s Investors Service and BBB-plus by Standard & Poor’s.
