UT Southwestern undertakes expansion of its flagship hospital to meet rising need for care

To meet a greater-than-expected need for specialty patient care in North Texas and the surrounding states, UT Southwestern is undertaking a $480 million expansion of its flagship William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital.

Scheduled to open in 2020, a 12-story third tower will serve as the clinical home for the Peter O'Donnell Jr. Brain Institute, consolidate acute inpatient care services currently provided at Zale Lipshy University Hospital, and add operating rooms, interventional suites, a newly expanded Emergency Department, and two new parking facilities. The project enhances both the quality of care and the efficiency of delivery to reduce expenses while accommodating growth.

"We are grateful for the trust that our patients and their families have placed in coming to us for care," said Dr. Daniel K. Podolsky, President of UT Southwestern, who holds the Philip O'Bryan Montgomery, Jr., M.D. Distinguished Presidential Chair in Academic Administration, and the Doris and Bryan Wildenthal Distinguished Chair in Medical Science. "This expansion will make it possible for us to serve all those who come to seek our help from this community and afar. We remain steadfast in our commitment to provide the most patient-centered care possible, while driving innovations that advance outcomes, safety, and value."

The architecture of Clements University Hospital will allow the expansion to proceed at a lower cost with minimal disruption to existing operations. Clements University Hospital, including its ER, will remain operational throughout the 30-month project.

Highlights include:

• An additional 650,000 square feet of space
• Nearly 300 additional hospital beds (460 currently)
• An additional 19 operating rooms
• Two additional parking structures
• Expansion of the hospital's Emergency Department, and imaging services.

The addition will allow UT Southwestern to improve the quality of hospital care and services, lower the cost of care by eliminating redundancies in infrastructure and inventory, and position Clements University Hospital as the primary center for specialty care in the region. The expansion also will support growing future referrals through Southwestern Health Resources, the clinically integrated network formed in partnership with Texas Health Resources.

Since opening Clements University Hospital in December 2014, UT Southwestern has received consistent recognition for quality of care and patient satisfaction, including:

• Ranked the No. 1 hospital in Dallas-Fort Worth and second in Texas, and among the top 50 programs nationally in six clinical specialty areas, according to S. News & World Report.
• Named for a seventh consecutive year on HealthCare's 2017 "Most Wired" list, which is distributed annually by Hospitals & Health Networks magazine, the flagship publication of the American Hospital Association.
• Recognized with three Excellence in Healthcare Awards for excellence in patient care and satisfaction by national health care research leader Professional Research Consultants, Inc. for UT Southwestern's Emergency Department, surgery services, and Outpatient Surgery Center.

The expansion also allows consolidation of acute inpatient services, and specifically those for the Peter O'Donnell Jr. Brain Institute – enhancing both the quality of care and the efficiency of care to reduce expenses, while accommodating growth.

Dr. John Warner, Vice President and CEO for UT Southwestern University Hospitals, said he is enthusiastic about the opportunity the new addition represents.

"Having virtually all of our inpatient services in one building will help streamline many of our consultation services and support our team-based, multidisciplinary care model," said Dr. Warner, Professor of Internal Medicine, who holds the Jim and Norma Smith Distinguished Chair for Interventional Cardiology, and the Nancy and Jeremy Halbreich, Susan and Theodore Strauss Professorship in Cardiology. "With this addition, we are even better positioned to serve the growing number of patients and families who come to us for the best care, the most advanced treatments, and the compassionate attention for which UT Southwestern University Hospitals are known."

Funding for the new tower will be through bond sales previously approved by the UT System Board of Regents, supplemented with philanthropic support.

The Clements addition is part of the first phase of an $875 million West Campus Facilities Replacement Plan that will unfold in five phases over 20 years. Phase One of the plan also involves construction of a nine-story, 305,000-square-foot academic and clinical building that will house faculty offices, outpatient clinics, and a state-of-the-art simulation center, and is already underway and estimated to be completed next year. Ultimately, the plan will add 1.1 million square feet of facility space.​

Source: http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/newsroom/articles/year-2017/cuh-third-tower-groundbreaking.html