Penn Therapy & Fitness University City is set to open
for business Aug. 4 as one of the first tenants of the 13-story Penn Medicine
University City medical building.
The 29,800-square-foot outpatient rehabilitation therapy
center will occupy parts of three floors in the $38 million outpatient care and
medical office building at 3737 Market St. It's owned and operated by Good
Shepherd Penn Partners, a joint venture formed in 2007 by the Good Shepherd
Rehabilitation Network of Allentown, Pa., and the University of Pennsylvania
Health System.
Good Shepherd Penn Partners invested $4 million in construction
and equipment costs for the center. The company is merging two existing therapy
centers — one at 3624 Market Street and the other at the nearby Penn
Presbyterian Medical Center in West Philadelphia — at the new site.
“This center is very different than our others; it’s a very
exciting project for us,” said Kim Grosch, vice president of therapy services
for Good Shepherd Penn Partners. “The biggest difference is the sheer size of
the center. This place is huge. I’m not sure there is another outpatient
therapy site [affiliated with an academic medical center] that is this big in
the region.”
Good Shepherd Penn Partners has 12 other outpatient physical
therapy centers in the region, mostly ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 square feet,
Grosch said.
The Penn Therapy & Fitness University City site will
provide specialized physical, occupational and speech therapy including
orthopedic and sports rehabilitation, hand therapy, cancer rehabilitation,
neurologic therapy, speech/language pathology and women’s health.
It will have a staff of 22 physical therapists, six
occupational therapists, one speech therapist, three managers and 16
support-staff members.
“We also incorporated a therapy pool into the design,”
Grosch said. “This will be our first site with a pool.”
The aquatic-therapy pool has variable depths and an
underwater treadmill.
Grosch said being in a medical office building will enable
the center’s therapists to more closely work with patients’ doctors in
developing treatment plans.
The Penn Medicine University City tower will add more than
150,000 square feet of physician practices, testing and surgical space to the
Penn Presbyterian Medical Center campus. It will contain nearly 110 exam rooms,
six outpatient operating rooms, an outpatient medical imaging and
diagnostic-testing center, and a retail pharmacy. Penn Medicine University City
will also house the multidisciplinary Penn Musculoskeletal Center.
Dr. Scott Levin, chairman of orthopedics at Penn, described
the center as "unique and unprecedented" both locally and nationally
with specialists in orthopedics, rheumatology, physical medicine and
rehabilitation, pain medicine, and musculoskeletal radiology. They'll work
together at one site to care for patients with musculoskeletal disorders or
injuries that cause pain in the body’s joints, ligaments, muscles, nerves,
tendons, and structures that support limbs, neck and back.
"I'm not sure there is anyone else who will be offering
this kind of integrated approach," Levin said.
Michelle Volpe, CEO of Penn Presbyterian, said the tower is
part of the Penn Health System’s effort to bring more services closer to where
people work.
“Our expectation is this facility will help eliminate the
need for patients to make multiple visits to different sites for outpatient
care,” Volpe said. “Having everything done in a single location where all the
providers are located will make it very easy for those providers to communicate
with each other.”
Volpe said medicine is moving in the direction of more
procedures, including joint replacements, being done on an outpatient basis.
She said having Good Shepherd Penn Partners in the building will make easier to
coordinate care for a patient who needs physical therapy as part of the
rehabilitation.
“We see this [new building],” Volpe said, “as a good start
to the future of how we expect to deliver care.”
Source: Philadelphia
Business Journal
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