MoCo health system resumes 1 of 2 stalled hospital expansion projects
June 25, 2024
Holy Cross Health just got its parent’s go-ahead to resume one of two hospital expansion projects it previously put on hold amid financial challenges
The health system, owned by Michigan’s Trinity Health, is now resuming work on a $27 million redesign of its Silver Spring hospital’s emergency department intended to help shorten patients' time in the ER before they’re either discharged or admitted, Dr. Louis Damiano, the hospital’s president, told me in an interview.
“I believe our new design will help us make improvements in those times, improve the throughput through the emergency department and provide a better care experience,” he said.
But Holy Cross Health’s other Montgomery County hospital project, in Germantown, is “still on hold for the time being,” Damiano told me. That work involves building out a shell space for obstetrics and medical-surgical capacity in the acute-care facility at 19801 Observation Drive, which opened in 2014. As of last year, that project was expected to cost about $20 million.
TRACEY BROWN
The Silver Spring ER project’s $27 million price tag is notably $2 million more than previous estimates, Damiano told me, thanks to industrywide labor costs, inflation and other pandemic effects that continue to squeeze hospital margins — the same factors that caused it to stall.
Some of that funding will come from Trinity, and another portion will come from donor dollars, Damiano said, declining to disclose the exact breakdown.
“Philanthropy has always and continues to be an accelerant in Holy Cross’ ability to deliver superior care,” Chief Development Officer Alisa Smallwood said in an email, adding that the system is “constantly working with our donors to identify projects that they care about that meet our community’s needs.”
Holy Cross has already received $2.5 million from the Nora Roberts Foundation for the ER renovation project, she said. “This partnership reveals they, too, are optimistic about our capacity to make impactful, large-scale change in health care. We welcome additional community partners who will work with us to enhance our patients’ experience and positively impact and improve lives.”
HOLY CROSS HEALTH
Now Damiano and his team are evaluating whether to make any updates or tweaks to the new ER’s design conceived back in 2022. Those changes would just be “minor things” based on “increased volumes” in the department, Damiano said.
The Silver Spring hospital at 1500 Forest Glen Road gets about 185 to 190 ER patients a day on average, with that number rising to 210 during the winter respiratory virus season.
Once the design is finalized, Holy Cross could start construction. It’s expected to take about 18 months to complete. The system declined to disclose the project team at this point.
The go-ahead from Trinity is a big deal for Holy Cross, which hasn’t updated its Silver Spring ER in 20 years.
“We do believe that changing the design and updating it — we haven’t had an update in our ED since 2004 — will improve patient flow, patient experience,” Damiano said, adding that he’s “really happy that we’re able to move forward.”
The project would reorganize the emergency department’s floorplan, but would not involve expanding the actual facility, Damiano said. It will allow Holy Cross to increase its ER bed count to 62, up from 55. The hospital counts 437 inpatient beds and typically runs up against capacity, he said.
Holy Cross is among the Maryland health systems working to expand existing space, as a growing population continues to create demand for care. Adventist HealthCare, for example, is building out an additional unit and adding 30 beds at White Oak Medical Center while working to replace its Fort Washington Medical Center in Prince George’s County. Luminis Health is, meanwhile, taking steps to construct a new obstetrics tower at its Lanham hospital. And there’s a lot more underway across Greater Washington.