PULLMAN, WA—The Pullman Regional Hospital Board of Commissioners has approved by unanimous vote Bouten Construction Company, based in Spokane, WA, as the General Contractor and Construction Manager for the hospital’s Patient Care Expansion Project.
During the application process, eight qualified applications were received, four were selected for interviews and three companies were invited to submit bid proposals, which included local companies, Bouten, Skanska, and Hoffman Construction.
Pullman Regional partnered with Turner & Townsend Heery project management firm for the contractor selection process and WA State’s Project Review Committee application process.
“This selection process produced an impressive pool of highly regarded construction companies – all top tier, all with healthcare experience in Washington state, and all local companies,” said Matt Forge, Pullman Regional Hospital CEO. “We are honored and grateful for this level of interest in our project and ready to keep making progress.”
A General Contractor as Construction Manager or GC/CM was identified as a preferred approach over a Design-Bid-Build approach, due to the complexity of the project and working within active and functional patient space for safety and coordination. GC/CM brings a contractor on early in the design process, and aims to decrease change orders, which impacts costs and the project timeline. A GC/CM approach requires a special application and approval by the state of WA, of which Pullman Regional Hospital’s application was approved.
Project architects, Design West and SRG Partnership, will work with Bouten and hospital employee-based teams to finalize schematic designs and develop a phased construction timeline so that patient care continues and disruptions in parking and availability of services are minimized.
The first phase includes new construction for the Emergency Department expansion, surgery expansion, security and wayfinding upgrades and relocation of services in preparation for the second phase.
Patient Care Expansion Project Background
In 2004, a new, 25-bed hospital was constructed on Bishop Boulevard, which was previously on the Washington State University campus. The Patient Care Expansion Project addresses the growth experienced in the Pullman Community, the hospital and growth in outpatient services. As one of the largest employers in our community, the hospital employs more than 600 employees; the organization includes the hospital and a dozen clinics including primary care and pediatrics, general surgery and additional specialty clinics. Since 2004, hospital emergency visits have grown from 7,000 to 14,500. Surgical cases have grown by 35%.
In 2022, the Pullman community approved a $27.5 million bond to expand patient care in partnership with Pullman Regional Hospital. The Patient Care Expansion Project is a $45-50 million, 5+ year phased project and includes remodeling and expanding the hospital and building a new medical office building on campus. The project will be funded through the bond, hospital operations, financing and philanthropy.
The tax will be implemented for Pullman homeowners in 2024; anticipated groundbreaking is slated for early 2025. More information about the expansion project is online: pullmanregional.org/expansion