$100 million hospital expansion put on hold

A $100 million expansion of St. Francis Medical Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been put on hold by Catholic Health Initiatives to complete previously committed projects across the nation.

Catholic Health Initiatives operates St. Francis, Penrose Hospital and other outpatient, radiology, and rehabilitation facilities in Colorado Springs.

The expansion is now set to be complete in 2019, adding to the 195-bed hospital’s emergency room with nine more operating rooms and doubling the size of its neonatal intensive care unit. ­

Since the announcement of this expansion, Catholic Health Initiatives was to put down $60 million, plus part of design and equipment costs. The remaining $40 million of the expansion came from the hospital’s philanthropic partner, Penrose-St. Francis Health Foundation.

The delay comes following a possible merger with San Fransico-based Dignity Health, a 22-state system of 400 hospitals that house urgent and occupational centers, imaging centers, home health and primary care clinics. In the 2016 fiscal year, Dignity Health lost $238 million on $12 billion in revenue and Catholic Health Initiatives lost $703 million on $15.5 billion of revenue.