A group of North Idaho physicians and a Chicago company have firmed up their plans to build a specialty surgical hospital in Post Falls, saying they plan to construct the facility at the northeast corner of Mullan Avenue and Syringa Street there, and that the project will cost about $18 million.


The new venture, to be called North Idaho Surgical Hospital, will create about 50 new jobs, mostly nursing and administrative positions, which will pay an average of about $54,000 a year in salary and benefits, says Dr. Adam Olscamp, one of 10 Coeur dAlene surgeons who are investing in the new hospital thus far.


Construction work on the hospital should start this spring, and its expected to open next summer, the venture said in an announcement last week.


The general contractor is an Arizona company, and the construction will be managed by a Texas concern, both of which have experience building surgical facilities, Olscamp says. A spokesman for the Chicago company thats partnering with the North Idaho group, National Surgical Hospitals Inc., says he prefers not to disclose the names of those companies at this point. Olscamp says the contractor, however, has agreed to give very strong preference to local subcontractors and suppliers.


National Surgical Hospitals and the North Idaho surgeons have an option to buy the property at Mullan and Syringa, Olscamp says. That five-acre parcel is located just east of a satellite health-care center operated by Kootenai Medical Center, Coeur dAlenes main acute-care hospital and an opponent of the specialty surgical facility. Olscamp says the venture hasnt exercised its option to buy the property yet, but the price of the land is included in the projects $18 million estimated cost.


The property at one time was owned by North Idaho businessman Jake Dodge, but Olscamp says he doesnt know who owns it now. Dodge died in 2000.


In a separate announcement last week, National Surgical Hospitals said the new hospital will offer an environment for patients that is less intimidating and more convenient compared with typical experiences for admissions, surgeries, and recuperative stays in a general acute-care hospital.


It said it expects to add other physicians and surgeons to the venture as the project progresses. The company estimates that in its projects, doctor-investors will receive an annual return of 25 percent to 30 percent on their money.


The new hospital will have four operating rooms and 12 patient beds, and will specialize in orthopedic surgery, spinal procedures, pain management, and general surgery. It will not provide emergency surgery.


The investor group expects that surgeons will perform about 350 procedures a month at the new facility, and that the center will gross between $7.5 million and $10 million a year.


As part of the agreement with the local physician-investors, most of whom are affiliated with North Idaho Day Surgery & Laser Center, in Coeur dAlene, the Chicago company has acquired an interest in North Idaho Day Surgery, and it will close that facility at 2205 N. Ironwood Place when the new hospital opens. Olscamp says North Idaho Day Surgerys building will be sold or leased out.