A long-planned effort to build a comprehensive new healthcare facility in Flagstaff may be delayed for the time being, owing to rising costs.
Northern Arizona Healthcare has been trying to build a new medical center for the last several years. In 2023 voters in the city overwhelmingly rejected a rezoning of a site where an $800 million hospital complex was planned for construction.
Late last year chief operating officer Bo Cofield told the Arizona Daily Sun that the need for more facility space has remained constant. “We have patients in chairs in hallways, we have curtains that are keeping rooms from thoroughfares,” he remarked.
Despite the need for more room, the company said last week that it anticipates losing up to $50 million a year due to the Medicaid cuts that were a part of President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act last summer.
“Those cuts are scheduled to take effect in 2027 and compound over the following years, ultimately amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars,” a statement from NAH said.
The drop in funding, hospital officials have said, make the prospect of building a new facility any time soon unlikely.
Although hospital construction has been impacted by the Big Beautiful Bill Act, the industry has still seen a healthy number of new big-ticket projects nationally. According to the publication Becker’s Hospital Review thirteen projects were launched last year with a dollar worth of $1 billion each.
Founded in 1995, NAH currently operates two hospitals, as well as a series of specialty clinics in the northern half of the state.
February 17, 2026
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of Pixabay
