Medical mall worth closing a street

The Gazette Editorial Board

In early May, we wrote that Physicians' Clinic of Iowa's proposed medical mall in the Cedar Rapids Medical District was a bold plan that could bring benefits for patients and the local economy. We still hold that view.

And after results of a traffic study were disclosed last week, closing two blocks of Second Avenue to accommodate PCI's preferred plan is less objectionable. The City Council should OK the request when it takes up the issue this month.

We do, however, remain skeptical about this project's potential impact on local health care costs.

From an economic development perspective, this project clearly holds promise. Creating a convenient one-stop, coordinated-care facility offering a wide array of medical specialties should draw more talented physicians and related services to town. Which means more patients and visitors who also would patronize retail shops and restaurants and create demand for more. The property tax base would expand to help support city services. And combined with other downtown flood-recovery projects under way, the economic synergy could be considerable.

PCI's medical mall can anchor a medical district with our two quality hospitals as bookends - creating more competition for Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, both of which offer a coordinated-care model. However, we suspect an expanded Cedar Rapids district would keep more Iowa patients here, rather than pull from UIHC.

The most contentious issue surrounding this project has been PCI's request to close Second Avenue between 10th and 12th streets, disrupting what is now a one-way thoroughfare into the downtown.

PCI acknowledges it could build skywalks across the street instead, but cites substantial extra cost and some loss of patient convenience as detriments.

The traffic study deflates some objectors' arguments. It concludes that the city's street system would function “quite well” with the proposed closure. Further, Second Avenue as well as its one-way sidekick, Third Avenue, carry less than 40 percent of the traffic compared to 40 years ago, when downtown was a bigger retail center.

And the busiest downtown route, First Avenue East, is funneling just 70 percent of what it did before Interstate 380 was built.

But what about the PCI project's effect on costs, still the toughest issue in health care?

We don't doubt PCI's medical mall could improve our community's reputation for providing high-quality health care - but can it do so at prices below the national average, as has been the case? Mercy Medical Center CEO Tim Charles and Dr. Carl Aschoff are among skeptics - Charles even warning of potential threat to our two hospitals' financial viability.

Nonetheless, we can't stand still if we want to maintain outstanding, competitive medical services. The medical mall is an important investment in our community and region's future. It shouldn't be sidetracked over a street closing.