A team from the Health Facilities Planning Agency, U.S. Army Medical Command, visited Madigan Healthcare System last month to conduct a planning exercise with Madigan staff to firm up plans for the proposed Maternal Infant Pavilion. The outcome of this visit that included interviews with the command team, facilities, resource management and the OB/GYN department, was a better defined plan for the MIP. The MIP will be nestled between the Nursing Tower, Jackson Avenue and the south parking lot, and is estimated to cost $196 million. It is planned to be three stories with 159,000 square feet of primary and specialty care for women and infants including examination and operating rooms, clinical space, birthing suites and a neo-natal intensive care unit. The biggest change to the previous plan was the incorporation of a subterranean two-level parking garage adjacent to the MIP with enough room for 486 parking spaces. This change will reduce the walking distance for patients using the planned connecting corridors to the ground, first and second floors of medical center. The visiting planning team reported that the MIP would be recommended as a priority project for funding and construction in fiscal year 2012. If this happens, the MIP could be completed and ready to see patients by mid 2015.