Possible services include emergency room diversion clinic

Central Health, Travis County's health care district, is discussing preliminary plans for its 14-acre portion of downtown Austin.

The property is adjacent to The University of Texas' future Dell Medical School, which is expected to open for its inaugural class in 2016. Central Health's property includes University Medical Center Brackenridge, two parking garages, a professional office building and a clinical education center. Brackenridge will eventually be replaced by 2017 when Seton Healthcare Family's teaching hospital—Seton Medical Center at the University of Texas—opens in Brackenridge's location.

John Stephens, Central Health's director of financial planning and management, said his team is working in collaboration with UT, Seton and other Central Health partners. Central Health will develop the property throughout the next 15–20 years, but hopes to have a plan in place for the campus by 2017.

The campus currently has 800,000 square feet of building space and could expand to about 5 million to 7 million total square feet, he said.

"We can't do a plan like this without really understanding what everybody's perspective is on the project," Stephens said. "We're ultimately going to have to tend to our own objectives, but those are going to be intertwined with everybody else here. This is a public asset, so we've all got to weigh in on how it should be used."

The board has discussed several potential uses for the property, including opening an emergency room diversion clinic, where people could go to receive medical care in nonemergency situations. Another potential use the Central Health board has discussed is leasing space to its partner, CommUnityCare, to open a kidney dialysis clinic.

Board members could also opt to create services for the aging population, such as the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, which is run by the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services.

"Obviously one of the questions with any of these [services] is 'Is this the best location for that [service]?' That will always be part of the work initially," Stephens said.

Sarah Malm, Central Health director of strategy and business development, said health care needs in Travis County will be assessed through data analysis and will be part of the decision process.

In April the Central Health board of managers created three guiding principals for the downtown campus redevelopment. The goals include providing access to health care to those who need it most in Travis County, promoting programs that support short- and long–term fiscal stability, and strengthening partnerships with health and wellness providers.

Jana McCann, principal at McCann Adams Studio, said the downtown campus project would involve reuse or redevelopment, meaning a combination of demolition, new building construction and new services in existing buildings. McCann is the Austin-based urban design firm hired to create visuals and maps for the downtown campus. San Francisco–based architecture, planning and design firm Gensler was hired to assist in planning for the project.

Central Health has received input about the project from affected entities such as the city of Austin, Seton, UT and downtown residents since fall 2013.