Photos: Major hospital construction projects in 2014

Arizona-based Abrazo Health’s West Valley Hospital became a Level 1 Trauma Center this fall after a $26 million expansion that added two trauma operating suites, two trauma resuscitation bays and 32 new private patient rooms. Abrazo is Arizona’s second largest health system, with six acute care hospitals, and has been expanding in tandem with local populations in bustling greater Phoenix.

In June, Tenet Healthcare Corporation opened Resolute Health Hospital in New Braunfels, Texas, the foundation of a new network in the region, about 30 miles northeast of San Antonio, where the population growth of 2.5 percent annually is nearly four times the national rate. The 365,000 square-foot hospital has 128 beds in private rooms, serving patients across cardiovascular disease, orthopedics, oncology, rehabilitation and obstetrics, with the area’s only level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in the area. The hospital also is home to a 56-acre wellness campus designed to draw people in outside of acute healthcare, with a fitness center, healthy restaurants, walking trails, an integrative medicine center, retail shops and a women’s health center.

Among the newest hospitals in greater Dallas is not a replacement or a new outpost of an established health system, but a new for-profit, independently-owned facility spearheaded by physicians and designed with ideas from leading consumer companies like Apple and Ritz Carlton. This spring, the the 100-bed Wall Hill Medical Center opened just across the road from Texas Health Resources’ 898-bed Presbyterian Hospital. The hospital features all-private rooms with 42-inch plasma screen televisions as well as ample natural light (including ICU rooms), complimentary valet parking, iPads and free Wi-Fi, a bistro where clinicians are encouraged to dine with patients and families, a Starbucks, a movie theatre (largely for the kids) and 100 pieces of original artwork, commissioned by the hospital. There are also guiding policies borrowed from the hospitality industry, like the Ritz Carlton’s “15-5” rule for staff to smile at patients from 15 feet away and greet them at five feet. “What drew me was the ability to create a culture all our own,” Walnut Hill CEO Cory Countryman said. “There’s no hangover culture from a hospital that’s been around for 40 years. We had that luxury.”

In December, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center opened the new $800 million William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital, named after the former Governor and UT Southwestern donor and replacing to the 50-year-old St. Paul University Hospital. The new 460-bed facility is the teaching hospital for the UT Southwestern Medical School, and was designed in the shape of a 'W' to reduce the walking distance for caregiver and give patients a greater sense of privacy. Patients also have private rooms, access to Wi-Fi and “large windows that allow in abundant natural light, which has been shown to improve healing and a sense of well-being,” UT Southwestern leaders said. There is also garden at the back of the hospital for patients, and a separate discharge area to prepare patients to leave the hospital away from the busy entrances.

In June, Kaiser Permanente replaced its Hayward Hospital with the San Leandro Medical Center, a hospital, emergency department and four-story 275,000-square-foot medical offices building with an oncology infusion center, all up to new codes for earthquake damage prevention. The hospital includes 40 private treatment rooms in the ED, 10 operating rooms, and a labor and delivery unit, as well as room service, free Wi-Fi, pull-out guest beds, and the Get Well Network system patients can use for ordering food, checking which tests they will be receiving and controlling the television. Kaiser Permanente leaders noted that the San Leandro Medical Center is built “from a proven template design that maximizes natural light.” The medical center also has a meditation garden and multicultural celebrating Southern Alameda County’s communities, and a cafe and weekly farmer’s market.

In July, in the city where Kaiser Permanente started 70 years ago, the health system opened a new 349-bed Oakland Medical Center. The new hospital, across the street from the one it replaces and nearby Kaiser Permanente’s national headquarters, has all private rooms with room service, Wi-Fi and pull-out guest beds, an emergency department with 52 private treatment bays, eight labor and delivery rooms and 14 inpatient operating rooms. Like Kaiser Permanente’s other new hospitals, the Oakland Medical Center has the “Get Well Network,” an interactive electronic patient care board connected to a 42-inch plasma screen, in each patient room, as well as a “way-finding” board throughout the facility to help patients and visitors navigate, available in English, Spanish and Chinese. Nearby is a specialty medical office building, with 102 provider offices, six outpatient operating rooms, seven outpatient procedure rooms, a laboratory and a pharmacy.

In December, Kaiser Permanente opened a replacement hospital for the Redwood City Medical Center, the third new hospital the health system opened in Northern California in 2014. The 149-bed Redwood City Hospital meets the state’s new, stricter seismic-safety standards, and is a regional center for Kaiser Permanente’s advanced neurological care and surgery, with neuro-interventional imaging suites and dedicated neurological and orthopedic operating rooms. The hospital also includes private rooms with room service, Wi-Fi and pull-out guest beds, as well as the “Get Well Network,” an interactive electronic patient care board connected to a 42-inch plasma screen. Patients can view television programs, movies and patient-education videos; they can find the names of doctors and nurses, receive email, and read a care schedule that covers their hospital stay and follow-up care once they are released.

In March, Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based Novant Health opened the $100 million Haymarket Medical Center in the northern Virginia city of Haymarket, the four-state health system’s 15th hospital. The 60-bed facility offers an emergency room, surgery, oncology care, cardiology and radiology, and is Novant’ second facility in the region, near the Prince William Medical Center in Manassas. The new Haymarket hospital features all-private patient rooms, free valet parking Monday through Friday, an interfaith room of reflection, as well as financial counseling and guest services offices.

In July, Aria Health in north Philadelphia opened a new $37 million emergency department at its Torresdale campus, on the northern city-suburb border. Located on a campus with a 258-bed hospital and inpatient and outpatient facilities, Aria’s new Level II trauma ED has 30 percent more beds and will treat an estimated 60,000 patients annually. Aria’s new chair of emergency medicine, Gerald Wydro, MD, said the health system wanted to incorporate new patient-centered approaches in the ED, such as a pivot nurse, a new position created with the aim to “transform triage.” The nurse will greet all patients, obtain their information and vitals and perform a “rapid assessment” with the goal being to have all patients triaged within 20 minutes of arrival.

In December, Catholic Health Initiatives opened St. Joseph’s Health in Dickinson, North Dakota, replacing an older the St. Joseph’s Hospital. Dickinson, near the western border with Montana, is one of numerous North Dakota cities hosting some of the state’s Bakken Shale oil boom in recent years, the CHI’s new 25-bed critical access hospital is primed to serve the population in sickness and health. St. Joseph’s features an emergency department with level 4 trauma care, acute care with for medical, surgical, pediatrics and intensive care, dialysis and rehabilitation, including aquatic therapy.

Sauk Prairie Healthcare, a rural Wisconsin provider with one hospital, four primary care clinics and two surgical practices, opened its new Sauk Prairie Hospital In Prairie du Sac, 30 miles from Madison, in April. The 36-bed hospital includes 11 private emergency rooms, four ICU rooms, six operating rooms, seven recovery bays, two endoscopy rooms and 21 private outpatient pre-and post-operative rooms, up from 17 at the 50-year-old facility being replaced. There are also sleeper sofas in inpatient rooms for guests, as well as free Wi-Fi and a rehabilitation gym. “Moving a hospital is a monumental job; the thousands of hours of planning to accomplish the move certainly paid off,” said Sauk Prairie CEO Larry Schroeder. “As we look forward to the future, we, like all other healthcare organizations, face unprecedented challenges to provide the highest quality of care in an era of ever-scarcer resources.”

Bucking the trend of hospital closures in the rural South, Floyd Medical Center opened a new Polk Medical Center in Cedartown to replace the 64-year-old County Hospital. The new 25-bed Polk County Hospital serves as a critical access facility to work with Floyd’s Flagship 304-bed medical center 20 miles northeast in Rome. Polk Medical Center features a 12-room expandable emergency room and increased diagnostic and imaging services, including a dedicated women’s diagnostic center. There is also a 23,000-square-foot medical office building on the complex, with physician offices and outpatient services, including physical therapy and cardiac rehab. The $40 million hospital is the largest healthcare construction project in county history, comes with 75 new jobs, and opened on time in November despite rare snow storms in southwestern Georgia. “Who could have anticipated not one, but two significant winter storms?” said Kurt Stuenkel, President and CEO of Floyd Medical Center. “In spite of that, we opened the doors right on time. That’s a pretty amazing feat.”