SSM Health Care-St. Louis earlier this week received approval from the state of Missouri to replace SSM St. Joseph Hos-pital of Kirkwood with a $215 million health-care campus at Highway 141 and Bowles Avenue in Fenton.

The state-appointed Missouri Health Fa-cilities Review Committee voted 7-0 to approve SSM Health Care’s application.

Missouri requires the committee’s review and approval of all new hospital projects.

“We are grateful to the committee for its support of this exciting project,” Ron Levy, president and chief executive officer of SSM Health Care-St. Louis, stated in a news release.

“Our focus now will be to design the hospital of the future — a hospital that embraces our patients and supports our staff with the ultimate in clinical excellence, safety, convenience and comfort,” he added.

The 158-bed replacement hospital, which will open in the spring of 2008, will be part of a 54-acre health-care campus on what is now the Lakewood Golf Course, just south of Interstate 44.

The hospital will feature the latest clinical technology and information systems to support a full range of services, including a 24-hour emergency department and comprehensive medical/surgical services such as heart, cancer, orthopedics and women’s services.

The campus also will include an outpatient care center offering convenient one-stop service, and a medical office building.

At the heart of the campus will be a state-of-the-art information technology system to strengthen the quality of services, improve efficiencies and enhance pa-tient safety.

“This new hospital will offer a greatly enhanced health care environment with the qualities we know our patients prefer,” stated Sherry Hausmann, president of St. Joseph Hospital of Kirkwood, who will also be president of the new hospital.

“It will benefit not only our patients in the Kirkwood area but also those in the rapidly growing area of southwest St. Louis County,” Hausmann added.

The new hospital will continue SSM Health Care’s strong history of service and mission in the St. Louis region to deliver exceptional health care services, according to the release.

Other amenities planned for the hospital and health care campus include:

• Spacious, all private rooms that offer convenient overnight accommodations for loved ones.

• “One-stop” convenience for a full range of outpatient services such as lab, x-ray and other diagnostic services.

• An intelligent design that takes full ad-vantage of the site’s natural beauty, including gardens, fountains and other water features, courtyards and wooded areas.

• Abundant parking close to all entrances and exits.