WellSpan Health has partnered with Emerus to build three small hospitals in a residential area in central Pennsylvania, where WellSpan Health is expanding its facilities.
The York, Pennsylvania-based system, which has eight hospitals statewide, plans to build three in Cumberland and York counties with Emerus, a micro hospital provider that will operate and staff the facilities. Microhospitals, which typically provide emergency services and low-severe inpatient and outpatient care, are smaller in size than conventional hospitals.
WellSpan is in the midst of a $255 million York hospital expansion, including a new, eight-story surgical and critical care tower. The project is expected to be completed in 2025.
“These neighboring hospitals will be fully coordinated with the work we are doing at our larger hospital,” said Dr. Anthony Aquilina, chief physician officer at WellSpan. “This will be part of our continuity of care program to close the access gap in urgent care.”
Health systems in Pennsylvania can continue to add to their core inpatient market either organically or through acquisition as their competitors grow. Last month, Oakland, California-based Kaiser Permanente proposed acquiring Danville, Pennsylvania-based Geisinger. While the WellSpan-Emerus partnership has been around for about a year, the Kaiser-Geisinger transaction is expected to accelerate hospital acquisitions and mergers among Pennsylvania’s health systems.
WellSpan and Emerus plan to begin construction later this year and potentially open the facilities by the end of 2024. The organizations say the microhospitals will have up to 10 inpatient beds. Specific locations and service offerings are being finalized.
WellSpan reported $28.7 million in operating income on $1.82 billion in revenue for the six months ended December 31, according to unaudited financial statements. This is down from $134.2 million in operating income on $1.79 billion in revenue for the same period in 2021.
