MacKenzie said Ascension hired FreemanWhite, a consulting and design company in Chicago, to evaluate its Michigan hospitals and recommend improvements over the next several years.

In November, St. John Macomb-Oakland Hospital will break ground on a $48.1 million expansion project. The expansion, the largest in the hospital's history, will expand the east tower of the hospital from four to seven floors, convert 75 rooms into private patient rooms and renovate 42 other private rooms.

"They went to Macomb and characterized it as a very hard-working hospital for the amount of space contained in it," said MacKenzie.

St. John Macomb Hospital and St. John Oakland Hospital merged in 2007, and the hospital operates two campuses, one in Warren with 376 licensed beds and the other in Madison Heights with 159 beds.

By opening another 15 new private beds, St. John Macomb campus will have 220 private rooms, or 58 percent of the hospital's total beds. The project is expected to be completed the summer of 2019. The hospital also is launching a $2 million fund-raising campaign.

"The volume has been increasing and exceeding the capabilities of the hospital," she said. "We increased the building from four to seven floors. It is a bed tower."

An osteopathic hospital, St. John Macomb-Oakland trains 200 residents in 20 specialties, making it one of the largest osteopathic training programs in the country.

Providence-Providence Park Hospital in Southfield, another two-campus hospital with the second campus in Novi, is planning a three-year, $15 million renovation project to upgrade and renovate several service areas.

MacKenzie said upgrading at the Southfield campus will include critical care units, medical/surgical units and the birthing center. In addition, new flooring, wall coverings, painting, lighting upgrades, and upgrades to nursing stations and patient furnishings throughout inpatient units and patient rooms will be done.

"The renovations at Providence Hospital and the addition of more private rooms at St. John Macomb-Oakland will improve efficiency and safety, as well as provide a more pleasing environment for healing for patients and families," MacKenzie said.

Ascension Health Michigan is part of St. Louis-based Ascension Health, the largest nonprofit health system in the U.S. with 141 hospitals. Ascension Health Michigan operates 15 hospitals and hundreds of related health care facilities that together employ more than 27,000 people.

In fiscal year 2016 ended June 30, Ascension Health earned $753 million in operating income for a 3.4 percent margin. Through nine months of fiscal 2017, Ascension earned $1.39 billion in net for an 8.1 percent margin on revenue of $17.1 billion, according to Ascension's audited financial statements.

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Ascension plans $63.1 million in capital projects for Macomb-Oakland and Providence hospitals - Crain's Detroit Business