Lancaster General announces six-floor, $60M hospital expansion

Lancaster General Health announced Monday that it is planning a six-floor, $60 million expansion of Lancaster General Hospital, with construction to begin as early as this summer.

The expansion would occur at the northeast corner of the hospital, near Lime and Frederick streets, according to a LG Health news release. The new patient tower would stand eight stories, contain 60 new private inpatient rooms and space for an additional 80 rooms for future use.

The move would enable the hospital to provide all private patient rooms, which is now the industry standard in new construction of acute-care facilities, the release said. The benefits of private rooms are reduced noise, stress and traffic in and out of rooms; they also provide more space for equipment, for hospital employees to do their jobs, and for visiting family and friends, the release said.

Of LGH’s current 533 inpatient beds, 142 are located in semi-private rooms. The number of beds would not change. LGH would also gain space for offices and other medical uses under the plan.

LG Health has requested a zoning variance from the City of Lancaster for a proposed “overbuild” construction above the facility's Stauffer Building. Current zoning requires a setback on floors above the six floor, creating a smaller footprint as buildings get higher. The release said the hospital would not have enough space for modern nursing units on the top floors if the setback requirement is not waived.

Health system spokesman John Lines said in a Monday phone interview that the expansion will also "improve the clinical quality" of the hospital's care. "Private rooms reduce the potential for infection, which prevents a longer hospital stay for the patient," he said.

Line added that patients in semi-private rooms sometimes withhold information from hospital staff because that they don't want their roommates to hear anything confidential. "Health care professionals can conduct more in-depth consultations in private rooms," he said.

In addition, LGH finds that patient satisfaction scores are about 10 percent higher for private rooms than for semi-private rooms, Line noted. "So our own patients are telling us they have a preference for private rooms."

A final decision on the project is expected from the LG Health Board of Trustees at its May meeting.

Source: Central Penn Business Journal