The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio has begun construction of its first hospital – a $ 430 million facility that can use state-of-the-art cancer care and human resources experts to treat the most complex diseases of which people in South Texas are disproportionately affected.
UT Health’s multi-specialty and research hospital in San Antonio is expected to open in the fall of 2024, creating 50 new medical venues and 800 new jobs.
The 144-bed hospital will be built on 12.2 acres in the South Texas Medical Center on land donated by the San Antonio Medical Foundation and funded by the University of Texas Systems’ capital improvement program.
The foundation stone for the building will be unveiled today.
UT Chancellor James B. Milliken said the new hospital would be a good thing for patients in the area, but also for the system’s educational mission as it will attract new medical residents to San Antonio.
“I have a hard time imagining a more important investment that we could make to further develop what is already an outstanding center for health sciences,” said Milliken.
Currently, patients with difficult-to-treat conditions are leaving the city for care. They often go to Houston and take on the burden of finding temporary accommodation there.
“With this new hospital, we have the opportunity to find a way that offers the highest level of sophisticated care,” said Dr. William Henrich, President of UT Health San Antonio. “And I think it’s much better for healing when patients can be treated closer to home.”
Patients are admitted to advanced cancer treatment, including immunotherapy and stem cell therapy, but also to doctors specializing in orthopedics, urology, thoracic and bariatric surgery, and clinical trials.
Henrich in Houston had cancer treatment for a stem cell transplant about nine years ago. He and his wife moved to an apartment there for almost four months that he knows most San Antonians cannot afford.
“This is the kind of care we want to offer the people, the citizens of this city, this county and this region, so that they don’t have to go and go elsewhere unless you want to and have the means,” said he said.
Dr. Robert Hromas, vice president of medical affairs for UT Health San Antonio, said the new hospital will enhance the system’s partnership with University Health.
The Bexar County’s public hospital system and UT Health have worked together since they opened in 1968. In September, the organizations announced a plan to work together to create a world-class integrated health system to improve care across Bexar County.
Near UT Health’s new hospital, University Health is building a 12-story tower to serve as the new women’s and children’s hospital, which is expected to open in early 2023.
These two new hospitals are not the only expansion of health care in a deeply underserved area.
The Baptist Health System is adding maternity services to its Mission Trail Baptist Hospital at Brooks City Base, which will enable mothers-to-be to have their children closer to where they live on the southeast side from August. It is part of a $ 10 million renovation project at the system’s San Antonio locations.
A new $ 375 million hospital with 300 beds will replace the old San Antonio State Hospital, which provides psychiatric and rehabilitative services. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission has signed a contract with UT Health to work with other providers in the area on the hospital, which is expected to open in 2024.
The U.S. Department of Veterans is expected to complete a $ 19.4 million outpatient health center in Texas 151 and Rogers this year.
The Methodist Healthcare System, which operates nine local hospitals under a 50:50 stake between nonprofit Methodist Healthcare Ministries and major hospital operator HCA, is investing $ 86 million in its Live Oak hospital. The system plans to build a hospital in Westover Hills and reopen a hospital formerly known as Forest Park Medical Center near Methodist headquarters on Loop 1604 and Interstate 10.
Hromas, who is also dean of Joe R. and Teresa Lozano’s Long School of Medicine, said that after UT Health’s new hospital opens, students will be able to receive hands-on training there and at the university hospital using the same electronic health record system.
The online platform called Epic takes care of everything from billing and ordering laboratory tests to keeping patient files.
UT Health San Antonio receives new residency training slots every year. The UT system documents show that the university hopes to add 130 beds within five years of the new hospital opening.
“We find that around half of our trainees stay in the region permanently,” said Hromas. “South Texas is generally underserved in the healthcare sector, so we hope these additional training opportunities address this shortcoming.”
The design plans for the eight-story freestanding hospital include 12 operating theaters, an intensive care unit, an infusion center, an emergency room, a pharmacy, laboratories and imaging center, and private patient rooms.
There will also be a skybridge connecting the 448,819-square-foot hospital to the Mays Cancer Center, one of four National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers that is home to UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson.
There will also be a seven-story parking garage and lot.
There is a two-story limestone wall in the front lobby, a nod to the hill country. The architecture firm EYP also helped the university choose colors and materials that are reminiscent of a southwestern landscape.
According to Henrich, the administrators hope that the design of the building will reflect a warm and inviting atmosphere for patients and their families, but also make it easier for visitors to find their way around.
A week before the hospital’s groundbreaking ceremony, the university mourned the long-time benefactress and namesake of the university’s medical school, Teresa “Terry” Lozano Long from Austin.
Henrich said his heart was full of these two events taking place in close proximity because Long’s vision for the university was to serve the common good by providing excellent medical care to a needy population.
Over the years, she gave the university millions of dollars and made lifelong friends with students who she saw had the ability – but not the financial means – to study medicine.
“This hospital is an expression of this love. It is an expression of our sincere desire to do what is right for San Antonio and what is right for our medical community and the way we can help, ”said Henrich.
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