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CHRISTUS Health this week celebrated the 75th anniversary of Mother Frances Hospital in Sulphur Springs with a ceremony and the announcement of plans for a $25 million hospital expansion.
The hospital is partnering with the Hopkins County Healthcare Foundation and community partners to invest in a two-phase hospital expansion that will include adding approximately 8,000 square feet to the surgery building and constructing a new medical office building to house orthopedic, gastroenterology and interventional pain specialists.
“We’ve experienced incredible growth and have no plans to stop growing,” said hospital president Paul Harvey. “We are committed to providing first-class care and are excited about the future.”
What are the impacts?
The expanded surgery building will include eight operating rooms, locker rooms, 13 additional post-operative recovery rooms, 19 pre-operative rooms and new, larger operating rooms that can accommodate new technologies such as robotic surgical systems.
“We will have the same surgical capabilities as facilities in major cities,” Harvey said, “so we can see more patients, reduce wait times and provide the service our community deserves.”
The hospital opened as Memorial Hospital in 1949. The original facility was located on North Davis Street, but moved to its current location on Airport Road in 1968 and was renamed Hopkins County Memorial Hospital.
In 2016, Christus Health acquired the hospital and renamed it Christus Mother Frances Hospital – Sulphur Springs.
Larger trends
The project is one of several expansion plans announced by various health systems this year. In April, Highmark Health, the parent company of Allegheny Health Network, said it would put $1 billion into a 10-year transformation project at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh.
The funding will be used for a variety of renovations aimed at modernizing the hospital’s technology and medical delivery capabilities, including a new cardiovascular center and emergency department, among other major construction and renovation projects as part of the 10-year transformation plan.
And in July, the Sacramento, California-based University of California, Davis Medical Center recently held a groundbreaking ceremony to kick off a $3.74 billion expansion that will include the 14-story California Tower and a new five-story pavilion.
Hospital officials said the tower and pavilion will provide better care and help the facility adapt to the changing needs of the community.
Jeff Lagasse is editor of Healthcare Finance News.
Email: jlagasse@himss.org
Healthcare Finance News is a HIMSS Media publication.
