Froedtert and Medical College plan $120 million expansion

Milwaukee — Froedtert Hospital and the Medical College of Wisconsin plan to add 173,000 square feet of research and office space to their cancer center, to be completed in 2007.

The expansion is part of a $120 million project, beginning this spring, that will give the center's clinical services room to grow. Froedtert is adding another 67,000 square feet to its hospital for cardiovascular and neuroscience outpatient services.

Froedtert President and CEO Bill Petasnick sees this as part of a tred toward more outpatient care. He said the cost of the project, which would be financed primarily through debt and donations, would not raise the center's rates much, and that they are already much lower than average.

The redesign would make it a more centralized location for all aspects of treatment. J. Frank Wilson, chairman of radiation oncology for the partnership of Froedtert and the Medical College, said a single, multidisciplinary center is better for patients than several stand-alone facilities that handle different parts of treatment.