Ohio State University officials approved the purchase of land for another large outpatient-care center in Dublin last week, the latest in a string of planned facilities ringing Columbus, but almost certainly not the last.

As the medical center makes its march around the Outerbelt, its leaders hope to increase patients' access to care and keep up with demand.

The Wexner Medical Center’s regional ambulatory-care facilities also are planned for the Northeast Side and Powell, and officials are considering communities to the south next.

Each of the three outpatient centers announced since April will be approximately 200,000 square feet. They will offer comprehensive primary-care practices; behavioral health; obstetrics, gynecology and other medical specialties; surgical specialties; screening and diagnostic services; and outpatient surgery centers.

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“Really, it’s just about everything that you could possibly need short of hospitalization,” said Dan Like, executive director of ambulatory services at the medical center.

Acquiring land for the three facilities and initial design work has totaled more than $31 million; the total construction cost for each is to be determined, based on final designs. The first center, planned for the Northeast Side, is scheduled to be completed by mid-2021.

Ohio State acknowledges that other health systems have done a better job of being more accessible by establishing centers within communities, Like said.

“I think it is a recognition that in order to be more competitive in terms of access and convenience, that is important,” he said. "The demand for our services is there. We just want to provide another quality choice in these communities we’re going into.”

Medical systems have looked to build in the suburbs as health care has increasingly echoed retail trends, Like said.

“Really, what patients want is access and convenience,” he said. “You want it to be closer to where you live and work, and very accessible.”

The next target

“We’re not south of (Interstate) 70, so we need to get south,” Like said. “We need to be in those communities as well.”

Grove City could be a possibility, he said, but Ohio State is looking at communities southeast and southwest of Columbus in general.

In the case of the Dublin center, Ohio State plans to build it right across Route 33 from OhioHealth’s Dublin Methodist Hospital. It’s not unlike competing retailers opening stores close to each other, but choosing a location is a multipart equation, Like said.

“When we go out and look for land, what we look for is land that is accessible, that’s visible, that has enough acreage for not only our immediate plans, but also has the ability to grow as the community grows, that’s in a market that we’ve identified and prioritized,” he said.

Visibility is crucial, officials said. With these centers, the Wexner Medical Center is planting “a very significant flag,” said Bob Schottenstein, a member of the master planning and facilities committee of Ohio State’s board of trustees.

“The expectation is the signage will be as big as the law allows,” Schottenstein said in discussing design considerations for the Northeast Side facility at board meetings last month. “So that when the million cars every morning ... drive by that, it will be no doubt that that is Ohio State’s flag.”

City leaders have said the projects are boons to their communities and residents. They’ve welcomed close-to-home health care for residents as well as the jobs and economic development that come with it.

In Powell, officials are celebrating the Ohio State outpatient center as the city’s largest economic-development project, one anticipated to bring 500 jobs and $50 million in annual payroll.

“Our team, our city council, our planning and zoning commission and staff have been working with the Wexner Medical Center for the past several months to make sure that everything is the right fit for our community,” said Powell spokeswoman Megan Canavan. “The project is a win for the community on many levels.”

The design of the Northeast Side center, still being finalized, will serve as a template for the centers in Powell, Dublin and elsewhere. That, too, is similar to a retail model, Like said.

Although the regional ambulatory centers will not have emergency departments, Ohio State hopes the urgent care they provide can offer patients a lower-cost option.

“Our position on that is really, as you look at health care and health-care costs, we’re trying to be really cognizant and respectful of a lot of what is delivered,” Like said. The care that free-standing emergency departments offer “can effectively be delivered in a lower-cost setting” such as urgent care.

jsmola@dispatch.com

@jennsmola