The McMurry Business Park wants a medical campus, but a proposed, separate rehabilitation hospital won't be on it, Business Park marketing director Dan Guerttman said.

The nonprofit Wyoming Medical Center Inc., and Ernest Health of Albuquerque have been in negotiations to build a freestanding 40-bed rehabilitation hospital to complement existing health care.

While discussions about the rehab hospital have mentioned an east Casper location, that doesn't mean it will be in the Business Park, Guerttman told the Casper City Council during a work session on Monday.

Guerttman didn't know where the Wyoming Medical Center and Ernest are looking, but he's heard that someone wants to donate land for the rehab hospital, he said.

Likewise, WMC spokesman Chris Lorenzen said Tuesday that it's premature to say where the rehab hospital will be, and declined to comment on any free land offer.

The medical center and Ernest Health are working out the details of a joint venture, a business agreement that would give the medical center minority ownership and a say in how the rehab hospital operates.

The rehab hospital is separate from the Chicago-based National Surgical Hospitals' proposal to build a specialty hospital in the northeast part of the McMurry Business Park.

Wyoming Medical Center oppose the specialty hospital as a drain on patients covered by insurance leaving the WMC to shoulder a greater burden of charity care.

Guerttman would like both hospitals at the McMurry Business Park, he said.

"We would still be happy to sell land to Ernest," he said.

Reporter Tom Morton can be reached at (307) 266-0592, or at Tom.Morton@casperstartribune.net.