Expansion and restructuring of care at Geisinger Medical Center to improve patient experiences

Sep. 28—DANVILLE — Geisinger officials aim to pair the Danville hospital's upcoming physical transformation with a transformation in delivery of care.

As work begins on an $880 million, 11-story expansion onto the front of Geisinger's main-campus hospital, those officials plan to bring the medical center into the future for its patients and providers.

Dave Wojtowicz, administrative director of Geisinger's central region, explained the process has been about improving all of the medical center's many pieces.

"It's not about what's better for one piece," Wojtowicz said. "It's so matrixed. It's about all the pieces."

Geisinger Medical Center makes up a total of 1,787,153 square feet in Mahoning Township, Montour County.

In July, Geisinger officials announced plans to build an expansion on campus.

The 11-story tower will be featured at the front of the hospital, near an expanded main entrance area.

Hospital officials said the expansion will "dramatically alter and improve the Geisinger Medical Center campus through modern spaces and tools to meet the region's current and future health care needs, focusing particularly on patient experience and high-level care."

An additional 40 beds will be added to the space bringing the hospital's total from 520 to 560. Between the added beds and improved efficiency of single bedrooms, the hospital will be able to serve between 15 and 20 percent more patients.

A roadway project in front of the hospital to improve traffic flow is underway.

The Danville expansion project is expected to begin in 2025, starting with the planned demolition of Dickey Clinic to make room for the tower. Tower construction will occur in phases with the new building slated to open in 2028. The last expansion on the campus occurred in 2010 with the opening of the Hospital for Advanced Medicine.

Services in the Dickey Clinic, which has been used for neurosciences and general internal medicine, have already begun their relocation to Justin Drive to reduce traffic and place high-volume clinics in easier-to-access locations, according to Megan Brosious, chief administrative officer for Geisinger's central region.

Community need

Geisinger Medical Center has been operating at capacity for the past three to four years, Ron Lesher, associate vice president for project delivery at Geisinger, said.

Brosious said officials are "doing as much as possible to turn space into clinical space."

The population the hospital serves is changing, Brosious added.

"The population we serve is aging," Brosious said. "Not necessarily growing, but getting older."

Geisinger officials began preparing to serve this community need nearly two years ago. Their latest plans include a larger emergency department and operating rooms as well as a transition to 100 percent private rooms.

Emergency department

The hospital's new ER will double in square footage. Beds will increase from 45 to 60. Updated and expanded intensive care units and operating suites will surround the ER to allow collaboration between teams as they care for the sickest and most severely injured patients, officials said.

The medical center's current emergency department is too small and "doesn't offer an optimal patient experience," Brosious said.

"A new ED is critically important," she said.

The new emergency department will merge the currently separate adult and pediatric departments, officials said.

Nurse Jami Studebaker, administrative team coordinator of the emergency department, spearheaded the efforts of the new and improved department.

Studebacker said she is excited to be moving from a "little area" to two levels and to be eliminating any semi-private rooms.

"Every day we have locked capacity because we have rooms that cannot be shared," Studebacker said.

Another new addition to the medical center campus is their EmPATH unit, which Geisinger officials believe is the first of its kind to be in operation in Pennsylvania.

The EmPATH unit offers acute interventions for patients who seek care in the emergency department for a mental health crisis.

Following a preliminary screening, patients can be taken to the unit where they experience a calm, therapeutic setting compared to a sometimes hectic emergency department waiting room, Brosious said.

Operating rooms

Increased space in operating rooms was another need officials set out to fulfill.

Brosious said the hospital's operating rooms are old and not sized for contemporary equipment and technology.

"It makes managing that resource a really complex dance," Brosious said.

"With time, you'd think space requirements would shrink, but they've actually more than doubled," Lesher said.

Workforce involved in plans

Officials said they are working to provide high-quality spaces for patients and their workforce.

Between 500 and 600 members of Geisinger's clinical teams helped with the hospital's plans. Environmental services team members were among them.

Nicole Drumheller, operations manager of environmental services at Geisinger Medical Center, said the switch to all private rooms will have the biggest impact on her team.

"Having extra space for staff to navigate and work through is a big benefit," she said.

Officials said the environmental services team knew best what materials and structures would be easiest to clean and manage.

Past remains important

Geisinger has deep roots in the Danville community. These roots remain important to hospital officials who said they have worked with historians and architects to bring those who built Geisinger Medical Center into the new design.

"We are working to make sure we convey our roots in this," Brosious said.