RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - The Indian Health Service wants to replace Sioux San Hospital in Rapid City with a new health care center, eliminating inpatient and emergency services and demolishing a number of historic buildings.

But changes are years away, according to IHS officials.

Lorraine Jewett, chief executive officer at Sioux San, said securing funding for the project will require an act of Congress.

Before making changes at health facilities, Indian Health Service has to give Congress a one-year notice, and that process has not yet begun, according to Tony Peterson, public information officer at Indian Health Service regional headquarters in Aberdeen.

The land and some of the buildings at Sioux San were part of Rapid City Indian School, which opened in 1898 and closed in 1933. The school's main building burned down and was replaced with the current hospital, which was built in 1939 as Sioux Sanatorium, to treat Indians with tuberculosis.

Sioux San was singled out in 1992, when an Indian Health Service review identified it as a facility requiring further study.

The proposal outlines two alternative plans for construction at Sioux San's current location.

The first alternative, preferred by Indian Health Service for its efficiency in energy use and delivery of services, is to demolish 16 buildings, including the main hospital building, so that all services can be contained in one new building measuring approximately 140,000 square feet.

The second alternative calls for gutting and renovating the existing hospital and dental clinic and constructing a smaller new facility. This plan would involve demolition of 17 properties and would divide services into different locations.

The cost difference between the two alternatives is not significant, according to the proposal. The latest cost estimate is $67.16 million.

On the 42-acre campus, 19 properties are eligible for registration as National Historic Places, and the site is eligible to be a historic district. Under either of the alternative plans for renovation, most of the historic buildings would be demolished.

Because the federal project proposes altering a historic district, Indian Health Service has to satisfy requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act.