Virtua to spend nearly $60M on 2 new health care sites

Virtua is planning to spend nearly $60 million on two major building projects, one to benefit cancer patients in South Jersey and the other to help so-called “high utilizers” of health care services in the city of Camden.

The health system, which last year announced an oncology partnership with the University of Pennsylvania Health system, wants to build a $35 million cancer center in Moorestown across from its existing health and wellness center.

 “We’ve had this on the drawing board for quite some time,” said Rich Miller, Virtua’s president and CEO, noting the project predates the Penn collaboration. “We were just looking for the best location.”

The health system is looking to build the 48,000-square-foot cancer center at a site that was previously an Acme supermarket located on Young Avenue near Centerton Road. Miller said they are working with the township to secure needed zoning approvals.

“We are hopeful we can work through those issues and get moving," he said.

Miller said the cancer center will provide an array of services including medical oncology, radiation oncology, infusion therapy (with a view of an outdoor healing garden), genetic counseling and lab testing. It will also have conference and education rooms for clinical staff and patients, clinical research space and a cafe.

Virtua has also formed a partnership with Rizzieri's Salon, which operates out of the Mooresown Mall, to create a boutique in the cancer center that will provide wigs for women whose hair is affected by their treatment.

“Penn will be our partner for the cancer center,” Miller said.

Virtua’s second major building project is a new $22 million family health center at its campus in Camden.

“The health center we have there now is too small for what we are doing,” said Miller, noting the existing site handles 16,000 patient visits a year. “It’s very busy.”

The shift underscores the point he made during the Business Journal’s Economic Conference, “Philadelphia: America’s Great Hub of Health Care Innovation"– that it is necessary to size hospitals appropriately.

The 36,000-square-foot building will provide primary care services with the help of physician residency programs. Specialty services will be offered in areas such as cardiology and behavioral health. The center will also have programs in other clinical areas including podiatry, dental care and physical therapy and be equipped telehealth technology.

Virtua is collaborating with Dr. Jeff Brenner and his organization, the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers, on the project, to focus on meeting the needs of Camden residents with chronic health conditions such as diabetes and congestive heart failure.

“The goal,” Miller said, “is to get the high-utilization patients the care they need so they don’t have to go to hospital emergency rooms,” where the cost of medical treatment is much higher.

The family health center will also feature “group visit” space where patients with the same chronic health conditions can gather with their doctors to meet and talk. “It will be kind of like support groups for people with chronic diseases,” Miller said.

Virtua expects to begin construction of the family health center in the spring. Miller said he’d like to see both projects completed over the next 24 months.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal