Baylor Scott and White Health is looking to upgrade its historic flagship hospital in Old East Dallas, according to Baylor University Medical Center trustee Tré Black.
Black, who chairs the Community Engagement Committee on the board, spoke with D CEO managing editor Ben Swanger about the desire to modernize before following up with D CEO Healthcare to help spread the word that the system is in the early stages of planning a major campus renovation.
“One of the biggest things we’re pushing is a significant upgrade of our BUMC facilities,” says Black, who is the president & CEO of On-Target Supplies & Logistics. “We certainly want the community, the business community, the civic community, and the philanthropic community to support and endorse that initiative so we can offer the most modern healthcare in the region.”
Black says the system is still several months away from launching an official capital campaign. Still, he said he wanted to get the word out to the business and leadership community that there are plans to improve the campus and wanted to connect potential partners and stakeholders with the health system’s foundation.
Parts of the existing Old East Dallas were built in 1950, which is when the hospital opened the Truett Memorial Building. The tower added 450 beds to bring the hospital’s total to 850 and was notable for having air conditioning and telephones in every room when it opened more than 70 years ago. Today, BUMC has 1,205 licensed beds.
The Baylor system was founded in East Dallas in 1903 as a 25-bed facility called the Good Samaritan Hospital. Over the last century-plus, it has grown, added and lost academic partners, and become the flagship hospital for the state’s largest nonprofit healthcare network when Baylor Health System merged with Scott & White Healthcare in 2013. Baylor Scott & White Health now has 51 hospitals and hundreds of other care sites with more than 49,000 employees and more than 7,000 physicians caring for patients in more than 5,000 licensed hospital beds. The system a recently announced a partnership to expand its urgent care presence and opened a new heart and vascular hospital in Waxahachie.
The Black family has a rich legacy with the health system. Tré was born at BUMC, and his father, Albert Black Jr., has been on the system’s board (including a time as chairman) for decades after working in the kitchen of BUMC as a teenager and going on to found On Target.
“We have been a best-in-class healthcare system, but we want to make sure that the flagship hospital has renovations and improvements for us to be competitive for many generations to come,” Tré says. “We want to make sure that the flagship is an attractive place for a new generation.”
Before pushing for what will likely be a multi-billion dollar project, Black is busy meeting with stakeholders in the community to build momentum. “We need to see community support for that decision to feel good about what is next,” he says.
Baylor Scott & White Health responded to D CEO Healthcare’s questions about changes to the campus with a statement that said, “We are continuously evaluating opportunities to enhance our offerings to the communities we serve. We will share more once definitive plans are in place.”
While every major health system in the region has been adding new hospitals in the suburbs, Dallas proper is also undergoing a hospital boom. The State of Texas is partnering with UT Southwestern and Children’s Health to build a new $482.5 million state psychiatric hospital in the medical district, and Children’s Medical Center Dallas is working on a new campus near Clements Hospital in the medical district that was initially announced to bidders as a $2.5 billion project.
Black said it was still too early to put any numbers or details about what would be renovated, when, or how, but said it would target some of the aged infrastructure currently on the campus. Black sang the praises of the hospital’s president, Kyle Armstrong, who spoke with D CEO Healthcare last year after he started his position. “I think that the business community needs to get to know Kyle Armstrong and his vision for BUMC,” Black says. “He can talk about where the healthcare system is going.”
Black discussed the desire to treat multiple clinical care service lines in one room and renovate facilities to attract and retain talent. The pandemic revealed capacity and flexibility opportunities for all health systems, and Baylor Scott & White is looking for ways to be prepared in the future, Black says. “Our employees are excited about the possibilities for those who are here and want to make Dallas home,” he says. “It’s going to be an extraordinary attraction for healthcare talent in North Texas.”
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