WellSpan Health has announced a deal with “microhospital” operator Emerus to build a trio of small, 24/7 hospitals in south Pennsylvania.
The so-called neighborhood hospitals will each be fully licensed with an emergency department and up to 10 inpatient beds for “a smaller, more accessible footprint,” the organizations said in a Tuesday release.
The facilities will be operated and staffed by Emerus but will be branded as WellSpan hospitals and fully integrated with the York, Pennsylvania-based provider’s patient portal and systems, they said.
“As WellSpan continues to reimagine the face of healthcare, we recognize that it cannot always be a one-size-fits-all approach,” Roxanna Gapstur, Ph.D., president and CEO of WellSpan Health, said in the announcement. “To truly make healthcare more accessible for our neighbors in South Central Pennsylvania, we must always strive to meet them where they are. … As part of our mission to serve all, these neighborhood hospitals will provide efficient, close-to-home access to low acuity emergency and hospital care.”
Emerus is aiming to break ground on the first of the facilities before the end of the year for a “potential” opening in 2024, according to the announcement.
The new neighborhood hospitals will be built in Pennsylvania’s Cumberland and York counties, the organizations said, though the specific locations of and services offered at each location “are still being finalized.”
“We are excited to partner with WellSpan Health to bring high-quality, convenient care to communities across central Pennsylvania,” Vic Schmerbeck, CEO of Emerus, said in the announcement. “Our shared vision, complemented by Emerus’ unique neighborhood hospital concept, will produce an extraordinary patient experience that Pennsylvanians deserve.”
Emerus operates 39 such facilities nationwide via similar partnerships with health systems including Ascension, Baptist Health System, CommonSpirit Health and Mon Health, according to its website. Of these, four are located in western Pennsylvania, in or around Pittsburgh, as part of a partnership with Allegheny Health Network.
Wellspan is an integrated nonprofit system with over 220 patient care locations, including eight hospitals, in Pennsylvania and Maryland. It employs about 20,000 people and has a clinically integrated network of roughly 2,600 physicians and advanced practice providers.