According to Bill Welch, president/CEO of the Nevada Hospital Association, Nevada’s hospitals need to catch up with the state’s rapid population growth in order to adequately serve the population. The problem is especially acute in Southern Nevada, which has one hospital bed for every 427 residents, compared to the national average of one bed for every 325 people. To answer this need, hospital companies are planning five new facilities for Southern Nevada and one for Carson City.
Universal Health Services (UHS), parent company of the Valley Health System, is planning to expand its system by building two new hospitals. Spring Valley Hospital, which broke ground in March, is being constructed on a 35.5-acre site in southwestern Las Vegas, at Rainbow Boulevard and Hacienda. The four-story, 280,000-square-foot hospital will provide 176 patient beds, including 40 intensive care beds and 26 beds in its Women’s Center. The $70 million facility will also feature surgical suites, emergency services, out-patient and day surgery, comprehensive cardiac care, and radiology and laboratory services. A three-story, 60,000-square-foot medical office building is also planned for the site.
UHS, based in Pennsylvania, is one of the largest hospital management companies in the nation, with 98 facilities across the country, including the Valley Health System, which comprises Desert Springs Hospital, Summerlin Hospital and Valley Hospital. In North Las Vegas, UHS plans to construct a $70 million, 180-bed hospital at Craig Road and Commerce Street. North Las Vegas officials have approved zoning for the facility, tentatively named Craig Ranch Hospital, and UHS plans to break ground by the end of 2002, after the approval process has been completed.
HCA, which operates Sunrise and MountainView Hospitals and three Southern Nevada surgery centers, is building a third hospital in the fast-growing southwest area of Las Vegas. The still-unnamed full-service facility will break ground in May 2002, with a scheduled opening of the $140 million hospital in January of 2004. Located at Sunrise Road and I-215, the first phase of the hospital will contain 129 beds, with 54 additional beds scheduled for a later phase. KGA Architects was contracted to design the facility.
St. Rose Dominican Hospital, with two hospitals in Henderson, is also following the westward expansion of the Beltway. In 2004, it will open its third campus on 40 acres near Warm Springs Road between Durango and Buffalo. The $190 million project will include a full-service, acute care hospital and an attached medical office building. The five-story hospital will open with 200 beds, with an additional 100-bed shelled space for future expansion.
