Methodist Health System formally opened its new, 125-bed, four-story acute care hospital in Richardson this week, offering specialized care services to residents in Collin and northeastern Dallas counties.
Known as Methodist Richardson Medical Center, the $120 million expansion will eventually employ 900 caregivers, including more than 400 physicians who will have 35 different specialties, said system spokesperson Joe Brown. Hospital President Ken Hutchenrider says Methodist is hiring based on patient admittance: “We’re still hiring as we speak.”
The expansion is located at the southeast corner of Renner Road and President George Bush Turnpike. The existing Campbell Road Methodist location will be renamed the Campus for Continuing Care.
“It’s a very beautiful hospital. I think it provides a new state-of-the-art level of care,” Hutchenrider said. “While we had very positive levels of care in our facility, it was an older facility.”
The Campbell campus, a 209-bed hospital that’s been in the community since 1977, will continue to house Methodist Richardson’s emergency department, its outpatient radiology and lab services, and payroll health services. It will also be home to expanded mental and behavioral health centers and will add long-term care services in partnership with a third-party company.
The new location has about 25 more beds for acute patients, Hutchenrider said. It also has room to add another 50 beds in a pair of shell spaces. In the long term, the hospital will be able to build two floors above the main sections and five above the emergency department.
The hospital has a new women’s services pavilion; a level III neonatal intensive care unit; labor, delivery, and recovery services; an advanced neurosciences program; outpatient surgical services, with a focus on minimally invasive surgery using the robotic da Vinci Surgical System; advanced cardiac care including catheterization and electrophysiology labs; and comprehensive imaging for diagnostics and treatment.
Hutchenrider said much of the hospital’s focus was on upgrading its technology. Surgeons now have access to a fully integrated OR. The catheterization, vascular, neurosciences, and electrophysiology labs are all in one. Its patient monitoring abilities have been upgraded, as have its IT and cellular systems—meaning, no longer will a patient’s family member’s phone go dead walking through a hallway.
“We tried to think about all the technologies that are out there today,” Hutchenrider said. “How can we utilize it to help our patients?”
The new location will also serve residents in Garland, Murphy, Plano, Sachse, Wylie, and other smaller surrounding cities.
