MOUNT VERNON, IL-Attached or adjacent medical office buildings are now joining more new hospital construction plans, according to a project manager at McCarthy Building Cos. The St. Louis-based firm is about 30% complete with the $140 million Samaritan Regional Health Center here, and has started construction on a connected 141,000-square-foot MOB on the site.

Jeff Boyer tells GlobeSt.com that this trend is not just limited to the Midwest. “Most of the new national projects, of which we’re seeing more as the companies cut loose their plans, are adding medical office building components. Hospitals are looking for ways to combine their services with leasing for non-clinical activities,” he says.

The hospital here is a replacement for the current Good Samaritan, though it doubles it in size at five stories. The project is expected to be complete by October 2012. Shores Builders and Lipps Construction are the local partners on the development. The hospital is part of the SSM Health Care system, based out of St. Louis.

As with most new hospitals, this design features a few innovative moves, including rooms that have shorter distances between bed and bathroom to minimize risk of patient falls, more nursing stations to reduce distance between patients and caregivers, and a family zone in each room that allows for overnight stays. McCarthy is also using high-tech building methods, including a Building Information Modeling laboratory, which is virtually linked to the company’s home-office lab.