Following a year-long review by the University of Nebraska Medical Center and groups of stakeholders, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will complete the transfer of the management of the University Health Center to UNMC and its primary clinical partner, Nebraska Medicine.
The University of Nebraska Board of Regents on June 12 will be asked to approve the program statement for the relocation of the University Health Center.
UNL and UNMC officials will work to finalize implementation details and timeline for the transfer. As part of the agreement, the current health center building at 1500 U St. will be replaced with about 55,000 square feet of state-of-the-art space in a new building near 19th and S streets.
The new facility also will house the UNMC College of Nursing’s Lincoln Division in a combined structure of about 100,000 square feet. The shared project, which totals $41.5 million, will benefit both universities – UNL has been working to replace its outdated health center facility, and UNMC has been developing plans for a new Lincoln building for its nursing division.
It also will expand collaboration between the two NU campuses, create more shared student experiences, increase educational opportunities, improve campus health options and allow for cost savings.
“We are pleased to be moving this project forward so we can help provide high quality campus health services and also increase the number of nursing students, which is vital to Nebraska’s future,” said UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold. “This shared facility also is a testament to campus collaborations, which in this case enables us to better serve the health care needs of university students and raise the level of nursing education and research. We are particularly grateful to the UNL campus and Health Center leadership for their assistance in building this collaborative relationship.”
The cutting-edge building will facilitate the highest quality of patient care, sized to provide programmatic capacity to expand health care services based on projected student patient volumes and to consolidate counseling and psychological services into one campus location.
The new building will provide medical, dental and physical therapy clinic areas and the infrastructure to accommodate contemporary health care technology. It also will be the first permanent home for the College of Nursing in Lincoln, replacing the college’s current location in downtown Lincoln.
“Most importantly, this partnership will ensure expert management of the health care we offer our students,” UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman said. “It is an example of inter-campus cooperation that will ensure students are cared for in a state-of-the-art environment responsive to the changing world of health care delivery and the needs of our student body.”
Occupancy is expected in fall 2017. UNMC also will work to build a referral network with specialty partners in the Lincoln and Omaha areas to ensure the highest quality and best access and follow-up to health care services for students.
