Rob Eves would like to include an MRI lab in his new
doctor-owned professional office building but he agreed to wait
until December, giving the fledgling DePaul Health Center time to
round one up.
Rob Eves would like to include an MRI lab in his new doctor-owned professional office building but he agreed to wait until December, giving the fledgling DePaul Health Center time to round one up.
He had already offered to give up the surgery center. Both surgery centers and MRI labs are big money makers in medical establishments and subsidize other, less lucrative, services.
The issue came up the Aug. 18 council meeting and again on Sept. 1, where Eves asked for a slight change in zoning for his industrial park.
Eves’ Venture Corp., which developed the Morgan Hill Ranch Business Park south of Cochrane Road, is planning to build medical/dental office buildings there with a twist – each office will be owned by the physician, lab group or dentist occupying it. Most doctors rent.
Councilman Greg Sellers said he wanted facts and timelines on DePaul’s plans.
“We don’t get to pick what comes into town,” Sellers said, “but we do get to decide what doesn’t.”
The Planning Commission and City Council have said they were perfectly content letting Eves proceed with his project as long as it did not threaten the DePaul enterprise, which co-opting the MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and surgery facilities would do.
Morgan Hill lost most medical laboratory and all surgery services when Saint Louise Hospital closed in December 1999 and lost emergency care when the San Jose Urgent Care clinic closed in November 2001.
While Morgan Hill can support as many doctors’ offices as the doctors choose, Planning Manager Jim Rowe told the council, there is only so much MRI and outpatient surgery business to go around.
Eves wanted to keep the MRI center because several doctors who are interested in buying offices want an MRI nearby.
