IU Health Plans Major Hospital Expansion
(Picture Courtesy: IU Health West Hospital)
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana University Health has approved an $83 million expansion of IU Health West Hospital in Avon. The health system says the project will include 48 new inpatient beds, a new operating room and expanded support service space.
Hospital President Doug Puckett says the communities served by the hospital have grown, "and our ability to provide care to all of the patients who need us has been challenged by our capacity." He says the hospital has had to transfer more than 1,700 patients to other facilities in the past year because IU Health West did not have an available bed for them.
IU Health says the expansion will add another floor to its inpatient tower and expand OR, lab, cafe and classroom spaces on the north side of the building.
The approval comes on the heels of another significant project at the hospital designed to increase the size and improve patient flow at the hospital’s emergency department. IU Health says that renovation, also aimed at reducing the time for a patient to be seen by a provider, should be done by the end of the year.
Final design work on the expansion is expected to begin in January, with construction set to start in October. IU Health says the project will take about two years to complete.