Expansions put to the test with COVID-19
For Houston’s health care systems, 2019 was an age of expansion, both physically and virtually — the last semblance of normal growth before COVID-19 took over its intensive care units.
Houston’s top-performing hospitals began building and adding flashy services to accommodate demands for quality health care in the region, home to the world’s largest medical center complex. From brand-new office towers to virtual intensive care units, all have played a role in preparing for the largest public health crisis in a generation, and for what comes next.
“All of that work certainly is paying off now,” said Dr. David Callender, Memorial Hermann Hospital System’s president and CEO, “in terms of our ability to accommodate additional patients as well as offer advanced care at our locations.”
Memorial Hermann Hospital System, which ranked first in the 2020 Chronicle 100 survey of hospitals, has the most licensed beds of any hospital system in Houston at 4,168 in 17 hospitals. The system unveiled a $700 million renovation of the Susan and Fayez Sarofim Pavilion last year, bringing more than 100 new beds to the Texas Medical Center and more than doubling its emergency care capacity.
Before that, Memorial Hermann announced a $250 million expansion project adding features such as more parking, operating rooms and intensive care space to its campus in The Woodlands.
The move to telemedicine, which has been on the rise in the last decade, ended up becoming a boon in the age of the coronavirus. Virtual doctors’ visits appeal to both patients, who can see their physicians without fear of catching COVID-19 in a waiting room, and doctors, who can fit more appointments into their days.
At Houston Methodist, No. 3 on the Chronicle 100 list at 3,035 beds and eight hospitals, doctors have long advised patients over video calls.
In 2019, the hospital began pursuing the creation of a virtual intensive care unit for physicians to look in on patients from afar — an unexpected necessity as the emergency room filled with patients sickened by a new, contagious virus, said Roberta Schwartz, Houston Methodist’s chief innovation officer.
“Physicians who used to hold up a phone,” Schwartz said in May, “and tell me phones are not doctors, are now telling me they'll never return to the way they practiced before.”
HCA Houston Healthcare, No.2 on the Chronicle 100’s list of top hospitals, followed Memorial Hermann closely, with 4,039 licensed beds and 13 hospitals in the area. The national hospital chain, based in Nashville, Tenn., also introduced new technologies and services at its Houston locations last year, including Life Flight to transport critically ill patients to hospitals.