Geisinger To Spend $880M On Medical Center Expansion

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Dive Brief:

• Geisinger will begin a $880 million expansion of its Danville, Pennsylvania-based medical center next year, with plans to include a new 11-story medical tower, the system said Tuesday.
• The project will include a larger emergency department, expanded intensive care units and operating suites, as well as private rooms for each patient.
• The Risant Health-owned nonprofit plans to execute the expansion in phases, with a target completion date of 2028. 

Dive Insight:

The project is the latest in a string of expansions from Geisinger, a $10 billion health system that serves 1.2 million patients annually across Pennsylvania.

Geisinger is conducting a $900 million expansion of its northeastern Pennsylvania-based Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center. It also partnered with Acadia Healthcare in 2021 to open more inpatient behavioral health facilities.

Since Acadia and Geisinger announced their joint venture, the health systems have opened a 96-bed facility and began construction on a second 96-bed inpatient facility slated to open in 2025. 

The health system has said changing demographics are motivating its expansion efforts. Central Pennsylvania’s 65 and older population, which often requires more health resources, is expected to grow significantly over the next decade, according to Geisinger.

In March, Geisinger was acquired by Risant Health, a nonprofit health system formed last year by Kaiser Permanente to acquire and operate other nonprofit health systems.

The Danville medical center expansion was in the works prior to the acquisition, a Geisinger spokesperson told Healthcare Dive. However, Geisinger’s relationship with Risant did “accelerate” construction plans, the spokesperson said.

Earlier this month, Geisinger reported a data breach that may have exposed up to 1.2 million patient records. The breach is not expected to have an impact on construction, according to a Geisinger spokesperson. 

In March, Risant pledged to invest at least $2 billion into Geisinger by 2028. Risant plans to acquire at least four more health systems over the next five years to become at least a $30 billion health system.