OhioHealth spending $400M to expand Grant Medical Center. What does it mean for you?
OhioHealth will spend hundreds of millions to expand and remodel parts of Grant Medical Center in downtown Columbus over the next five years.
The expansion will bring with it a new seven-story building along Town Street that will house a new trauma center, emergency department and critical care pavilion that will add 160 beds, according to OhioHealth.
A new outpatient facility will offer more access to primary care services on the corner of Grant Avenue and State Street. The additional building will include two floors of outpatient care and a five-story parking garage, according to the health system.
The project will also add parking and enhance greenspaces and hardscapes to promote walkability. Construction is expected to begin by mid-2023 and finish in 2028, according to OhioHealth.
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The expansion will preserve 3,000 jobs at the medical center while likely adding hundreds more jobs over time, according to OhioHealth. It also shows OhioHealth's commitment to Columbus and the Downtown area, Grant Medical Center President Michael Lawson said in a prepared statement.
“We are thrilled to serve our region by investing $400 million into expansion initiatives to deliver world-class care and transform healthcare in downtown Columbus," Lawson said. "This commitment will establish the medical campus our city needs as it continues to grow."
The health system will use operating cashflow to fund the project, meaning it won't increase costs for patients, Lawson told The Dispatch. A recent community health assessment also showed a growing need for outpatient and trauma care as the result of a growing and aging population in the coming years.
"With the growing community, there will be a need for greater access to care," Lawson said.
"Our demand for critical care services are increasing. … Critical care will continue to grow in the future, and we have a critical care unit that's already at capacity."
The medical center will grow by around 310,000 square feet once construction concludes. Around 270,000 square feet will be dedicated to the emergency department and critical care facility while medical offices and a five-story parking garage will make up the other 40,000 square feet, according to OhioHealth.
The announcement comes weeks after the health system's largest layoff ever, during which 637 people lost their jobs, mostly in information technology, along with some in billing, coding and accounts receivable. Meanwhile, the expansion addresses an increased need in patient care and future need as the region continues to grow.
"The decisions we're making are based on need, based on the age of the facility," Lawson told The Dispatch. "We used data to make our decision."
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Grant Medical Center has operated in downtown Columbus for 122 years and is the busiest Level 1 trauma center in all of Ohio and the fifth busiest in the nation, according to the health system. It is the only adult hospital Downtown.
"Part of our strategy is to make (Downtown) a medical-centered destination," Lawson told The Dispatch.
Mayor Andrew J. Ginther praised the health care provider and called the $400 million investment one of the largest in Downtown's history.
“As downtown Columbus continues to grow and develop, OhioHealth Grant Medical Center is growing right along with us by making sure our residents and those who work here have access to state-of-the-art healthcare,” Ginther said in a news release. “This initiative will serve as an easily accessible healthcare destination while also creating additional job opportunities."
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: OhioHealth spending $400 million on Grant Medical Center expansion
