Health system to purchase hospital, build tower
After years of handing operations and governance for Memorial Hermann Northeast Hospital, the Hermann Health System will soon own the 255bed facility.
The system recently committed to buy the hospital at 18951 Memorial North in Humble and to add a five-story patient tower to the site.
“As we project where health care is going, this positioned us to have the most flexibility possible to serve the community,” said Heath Rushing, hospital CEO and senior vice president.
The trend in health care today, Rushing added, is demand for convenience, in addition to quality.
“What our community expects is for us to provide convenient, accessible health care where the community is.”
That growing demand for easy accessibility was behind the health care system’s decision to construct the Convenient Care Center at Summer Creek, an urgent care center at 14201 East Sam Houston Parkway North that opened in January 2013.
The system will open another convenient care center in Kingwood in June 2017, Rushing said.
But as the Lake Houston area continues to grow, it will need a larger hospital, too, he added.
That’s why the system agreed to purchase Memorial Hermann Northeast and commit to the tower addition.
Combined costs for the hospital purchase and tower
construction are approximately $125 million, Rushing said.
The five-story tower is scheduled to open in 2018 with floors one through four in operation and a shell on the fifth floor.
The result will be 90 additional beds for the hospital, along with a new entrance that will enhance the hospital’s visibility along U.S. 59.
As demand for beds continues to increase, the tower’s fifth floor will be completed — making another 30 beds available.
The tower also will allow the hospital to move and expand some of its ancillary services.
The details are still being resolved, but they will include food and nutrition services, along with the hospital gift shop.
The hospital’s history goes back to 1977, when it opened as the Northeast Medical Center.
In 2007, the hospital joined the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System to help promote the hospital’s long-term survival and position it to get better deals with insurance companies.
As part of the agreement, Memorial Hermann Healthcare System signed a 16-year lease, and the Northeast Hospital Authority — an 11-member body of community members appointed by Humble City Council — continued on as owner. The hospital was renamed Memorial Hermann Northeast.
“The system had full authority, but it did not own the assets,” Rushing said.
Memorial Hermann Northeast serves the greater Lake Houston area, which includes Humble, Atascocita, Kingwood and the West Lake Houston Parkway corridor.
The area is home to about 250,000 people, Rushing said.
But one of the school systems serving the area, Humble Independent School District, has estimated its population alone will increase 30 percent by 2015.
Rushing, who also serves as an Humble ISD trustee and a board member for the Lake Houston Chamber of Commerce and the Lake Houston Economic Development Partnership, attributes the area’s growth to accessibility.
The area benefits from recently completed sections of the Grand Parkway, along with its proximity to Bush Intercontinental Airport and Port of Houston, he says.
In a written statement, Northeast Hospital Authority President Roy Hearnsberger said he sees good things coming from the hospital system’s purchase of Memorial Hermann Northeast.
“The hospital has for years provided local families with access to quality and safe health care, while also being a great supporter in the area.
“The investment to build a new patient tower and do other renovations demonstrates that Memorial Hermann remains committed to Humble and the surrounding communities.”
For more information, call 713-242-4787 or call james.campbell@memorialhermann.org