UK HealthCare planning major expansions at Lexington locations

UK's Albert B. Chandler Hospital opened the first patient rooms in two new bed towers in 2011; it is about to complete the last of the rooms and start on a new bed tower. (University of Kentucky photo)

By Kentucky Lantern staff

UK HealthCare is launching an expansion that is expected to add 4,800 employees to its “skilled workforce” over the next several years, according to UK news releases.

The plan includes construction of another bed tower near the 12-story hospital that opened in 2011. The projects in UK’s “refreshed” strategic plan could ultimately have a $2.4 billion price tag.

UK trustees on Friday also advanced plans to build an outpatient medical facility in the Hamburg area of Lexington near the intersection of Interstates 75 and 64. Baptist Health is already building an outpatient facility at Hamburg that is expected to open next year.

The area around Hamburg, specifically the 40509 zip code, has the largest concentration of UK employees and is also one of the region’s fastest growing, said UK President Eli Capilouto.

“Our mission is to advance Kentucky in everything that we do and a healthier state where more people have greater access to quality patient care, closer to their home is a critical part of that mission,” Capilouto said.

The UK board had previously approved acquisition of 41 acres in Hamburg and on Friday approved $30 million to begin design of the outpatient project.

Meanwhile, plans for expanding UK's Albert B. Chandler Hospital will provide more inpatient beds and other services.

The plan addresses “steady increases in inpatient volumes” and challenges posed by aging facilities in the original sections of the Chandler Hospital built in 1962 and UK Good Samaritan Hospital, which opened at its current South Limestone location in 1907, a UK news release said.

In addition to the new bed tower, UK will launch an $82 million renovation plan to accommodate improved mother, baby, delivery units; advanced endoscopy; an observational unit in space that now accommodates overflow patients from the emergency department, and up to eight additional operating rooms.

UK will move forward with $180 million to initiate the design phase of the main campus projects.

The first three patient-care floors of the two 12- story bed towers were opened in 2011; the fit-out of the last patient floor will be completed later this year, and UK HealthCare said it expects these beds to be used as soon as the space opens.

UK said the projects are designed to expand access to advanced subspecialty care on campus as well as provide more primary and specialty care in the community to UK employees and for medically underserved areas of Lexington.

The gap in life expectancy across some Fayette County ZIP codes is 11 years, based in part on access to care, a UK release said.

UK Trustee Britt Brockman, chair of the board’s health-care committee, said: “We will remain focused on the mission we established more than 15 years ago — that no matter who you are or where you live in Kentucky, there is a place close to home to meet your advanced care needs. This is who we are. This is what we do. But that also means recognizing and responding to the growing primary and ambulatory care needs of our people and those who don’t have access to the care we provide.”