Rochester, Md.-based Mayo Clinic plans to spend $92.7 million on facilities and equipment, including more private rooms in its flagship hospital in Rochester, improved roads surrounding its Florida hospital and a new airplane to transport patients and organs, according to the Star Tribune.
Here are six things to know abut the spending plan.
1. The Mayo Clinic board of directors approved the spending plan in November. The $92.7 million spending plan is in addition to the $438 million the system had in construction projects in the end of 2014. At that time, completion of the projects was expected in three to four years, according to the report.
2. The system announced the plan Tuesday, outlining seven significant projects, four of which will focus on hospital operations in Rochester. The largest project is an expansion of the St. Mary's campus that will turn all of Mayo's hospital rooms in Rochester private, rather than dual occupancy.
"All rooms would be private rooms with private showers and private bathrooms, and [would be] much bigger so that family members could stay overnight in the room with the patient," Amy Williams, MD, medical director of hospital operations, told the Star Tribune. "We also have been looking at improving our efficiency here at our hospital campuses in Rochester, and this is a big step forward."
3. Mayo Clinic will also build new operating rooms on its Rochester campus. Construction will begin this year with expected completion in 2017.
4. The system is funding traffic studies in Florida and negotiating with the Florida Department of Transportation to improve highway access to its Jacksonville location, according to the report.
5. In Eu Claire, Wis., the clinic is revamping 40 inpatient rooms that were built in the 1970s.
6. Finally, Mayo Clinic's medical transport division is purchasing a Beechcraft King Air Model B350C fixed-wing airplane. The clinic will lease and operate the plane, which will replace a plane currently operated by a non-Mayo aviation team, according to the report. The new plane will provide emergency care and transportation services for patients and time-critical organs for transplant.