AUSTIN (KXAN) - Austin is a giant step closer to gaining a new teaching hospital and medical school.

The Seton Healthcare Family announced they want to supply the $250 million to pay for it.

Officials with the group of hospitals said it would be enough to replace the aging University Medical Center Brackenridge in Downtown Austin.

"The teaching hospital of tomorrow is going to look very different than the hospital of today, or even the hospital that we see there," said Seton Healthcare Family Board Chairman Charles Barnett.

Officials said they will need more land around the University of Texas at Austin to build the teaching hospital and medical school.

The facility will have a more modern look, like Dell Children's Medical Center, which incorporates more natural light and wider hallways that are easier to navigate.

But beyond the architectural design, Seton and Central Health officials said it will transform local health care for the next 30 years and deliver services in a new way.

"How many of you want to be a patient? Any hands?" Barnett asked a group of reporters. "People would much prefer to be treated in an outpatient setting."

Seton officials said they expect Central Texas hospital visits to go down 20- to 40 percent throughout the next 10 years.

That means fewer emergency room visits and more patients receiving care in the comfort of their own home.

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New medical school complex on horizon