Overview

About the Hall Health Primary Care Center Facility

Originally built in 1936 and expanded in 1975, Hall Health Primary Care Center (HHPCC) occupies the majority of the Hall Health building on the UW campus.  The health center shares a significant amount of this building space with the Department of Environmental Health & Safety, the UW Employee Health Center, as well as several research organizations.  The need for improving Hall Health’s capacity and facilities has become increasingly apparent. The most notable issues include:

• the building’s lack of waiting room areas for patients and lack of space in general,
• increasing demand for student health services (see details in Hall Health Operational Summary below),
• increasing size of “on-campus” residential student population (1,200 expected in 4 years (23% increase) and 2,400 expected over 15 years),
• increasing medical and mental health care needs of students (a nationwide phenomenon), and
• diminishing primary care services in the surrounding community. 

Hall Health Operational Summary

All UW students may receive health services at HHPCC, and those who have paid the SAF fee receive a number of services with no “out-of-pocket” cost.  73% of UW students have received a service from HHPCC.  Non-students may use HHPCC on a fee-for-service basis (insurance billed or self-pay).  This generates revenue that reduces the cost of care for students (44% of our $9.8 million operating budget came from non-SAFC sources in Fiscal Year 2007).

During Fiscal Year 2007, HHPCC provided the following:

• 77,300 patient visits of which 51,791 (67%) were by students (a 3% increase from the previous year)
• 7,637 consulting nurse encounters with students
• 4,987 phone and email encounters with students
• 292 same-day-need mental health visits with students

HHPCC is part of UW Medicine.  We use UW Medicine systems for medical records, scheduling, billing, quality improvement, risk management, compliance and privacy activities.   All HHPCC providers are credentialed through the Office of Medical Staff Appointments, including academic departmental oversight.   HHPCC has been continuously accredited by the Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Health Centers since 1988.

Expansion Project Feasibility Study

After other expansion options of Hall Health programs within the existing building space were exhausted, a feasibility study was completed in February, 2008 by Taylor, Gregory, and Butterfield to estimate the costs and design plans for a building renovation to better meet the growing needs of UW students and patients as well as the objectives of the health center.  The Feasibility Study recommended:

• extensive renovation of the ground, first, and third floors of the existing 27,400 square foot building,
• an addition of 2,600 square feet on 2 floors, and
• an estimated project cost of $9.7 million.

Renovation Project Specs

• Design will occur in FY 2009/10.
• Construction will commence January 2010 with full occupancy in January 2011.
• Operations will be continuous during construction.