The new facility will be named the Yawkey Center for Outpatient Care after Jean R. Yawkey, who with her husband, Tom, were long-time owners of the Boston Red Sox. MGH will receive one million dollars of the grant this fiscal year with the remaining contribution phased in over the next seven years.

When completed in 2004, the center will be the largest and most comprehensive ambulatory care resource in New England, according to a released statement from the hospital. It 320,000-sf facility will comprise 10 stories located near the hospital on Fruit Street and will house the outpatient activities of the MassGeneral Hospital for Children, the MGH Women's Health Program, the MGH Cancer Center, the Cardiovascular Program and the Musculoskeletal Program.

The hospital says that there has been a "dramatic increase" in the number of patients seeking care in the hospital's outpatient programs in primary and specialty care. "In the past 20 years, more and more care has moved from the inpatient to the outpatient setting," a statement reads. Ambulatory visits at the MGH in recent years have been rising anywhere from five to 10% annually, with visits last year numbering more than 1.3 million. This growth trend is projected to continue but the hospital emphasizes that it has not built a facility dedicated to outpatient care for 20 years.