The PRH board on Wednesday night unanimously approved the Patient Care Expansion Project, which will involve three phases of remodel and new construction.  The first phase will begin next month, and the entire project will take three years.  The board’s approval signed off on a total of 41 million dollar project.

The expansion has changed since voters approved the 27.5 million dollar bond in 2022, thanks to rising construction costs driven by inflation.  Three years ago, the plan called for a total project between 45 and 50 million dollars.  The 2022 approved bond called for about 17,000 square feet of remodel and about 11,000 square feet of new hospital space.  Since then, rising costs have forced the project to primarily become a remodel to keep the work on budget.  The finalized plan will remodel 30,000 square feet of the hospital and add 3,000 square feet of new space.  The proposal to voters also included the construction of a new medical office building.  That project has been removed from the bond funded portion of the work and is now earmarked to be a possible phase 4.  That new building would not involve money from the voter-approved bond.

It’s been a long journey for the PRH expansion.  Voters in the City of Pullman rejected the bond measure twice in 2019 before approving the project the third time around.  In 2021, rural voters around the city rejected a measure from PRH that would have annexed those properties into the hospital taxing district.

The remaining cost for the Patient Care Expansion Project will be covered by donations to PRH and hospital funds.  The current PRH hospital building was opened in 2004.