Kootenai Health and MultiCare Health System on Wednesday said they are developing a 30-acre medical campus at the southeast corner of Highway 41 and Prairie Avenue in Post Falls.

Phase one of "Prairie Medical Campus" will include a 25,000-square-foot micro-hospital with an emergency department, imaging services and rooms for overnight patient stays. It will also include a 65,000-square-foot multi-story medical office building that will initially be home to an ambulatory surgery center, clinic offices and lab services. 

The new location will help ensure access to health care as the region continues to grow, “building on the strong foundation of Kootenai Health’s existing campuses and our ongoing commitment to expanding high-quality care throughout the community,” a press release said. 

“The Prairie Medical Campus in Post Falls is a transformational investment in the future of our region’s health care,” said Jamie Smith, CEO of Kootenai Health. 

Phase one development is scheduled to begin this year and could be completed within three years. The Prairie Medical Campus has space to accommodate future phases.  

“When it’s ready we will be able to expand to a more full-service hospital,” Smith said. 

Smith said MultiCare will be a project partner in both mission and finance. He said Kootenai Health could not go it alone in developing the campus.

Kootenai Health will maintain operational control as the managing partner of the Prairie Medical Campus.

“They really help us in terms of capital risk. This campus over time is going to need a lot of capital investment,” Smith said. “We just don’t have the margins at Kootenai Health to support that over time.” 

The medical campus property was acquired about four years ago and will be the latest collaboration between Kootenai Health and MultiCare. 

In 2020 Kootenai Health partnered with MultiCare on the implementation of the Epic electronic health record. Since then, the two have collaborated on other initiatives including two urgent care locations in Coeur d’Alene and Hayden.  

“Working together allows us to build on the strengths of both organizations for the benefit of our patients,” Smith said. “It allows us to create something bigger, faster and better in the Post Falls to Liberty Lake corridor than either of us could alone.” 

MultiCare is Washington state’s largest community-based, locally governed, nonprofit health system. It has 13 hospitals and more than 26,000 team members.

Bill Robertson, CEO of MultiCare Health System, said "together, we are building a health care infrastructure that will support our communities for decades to come and ensure residents have timely access to the best possible care."

Kootenai Health has hospitals in Coeur d’Alene, Orofino and Cottonwood, numerous outpatient primary care and specialty practices, and more than 4,500 staff members. 

It is the third-largest health system in Idaho and is independent, nonprofit and locally governed.

“We need space,” Smith said. “We are really pretty full in our current footprint.” 

Smith said the area's growth accelerated the need for more comprehensive, quality medical care in Post Falls, Hayden, Rathdrum, Liberty Lake and surrounding areas. 

The population in Kootenai County and eastern Spokane County is predicted to double over the next 20 years, a press release said. 

“It is our mission to serve this rapidly growing part of our community," he said.

Although one report last year estimated there would be a shortage of 100,000 health care workers by 2028, Smith said he was confident they would be able to fill positions at the new medical campus. He couldn’t say how many the medical campus would employ. 

Smith, who just marked his one-year anniversary leading Kootenai Health, is excited about the road ahead. 

“This is the fun part, being able to grow, to build, and to invest,” he said. 

As CEO, Smith said his commitment is to “make sure our culture, our outcomes, our quality, remain very, very high in this new part of our organization.” 

    Smith