University Hospitals to build health campus

Plan includes ambulatory surgery center, offices

University Hospitals announced Jan. 26 in a news release that it will build a health campus at the southeast corner of state Route 2 and the Oak Point Road interchange.

Upon approvals from the city, the organization plans to break ground in June 2022 and begin welcoming patients in the third quarter of 2023, the release said.

The UH Amherst health campus will include a stateof-the-art ambulatory surgery center (ASC) and a medical office building which will provide medical and surgical specialty services and other ancillary services.

A for-profit enterprise, the ambulatory surgery center will be a joint venture with existing UH partner ValueHealth and key local physicians.

In late 2020, University Hospitals announced that it had formed a joint venture with ValueHealth to expand its ambulatory surgical network.

ValueHealth is the nationally recognized leader in Ambulatory Centers of Excellence (ACE) that will accelerate UH’s ability to provide value-based surgical care to the communities it serves, the release said.

In March 2021, UH announced that the first state-of-the-art ambulatory surgical center under this joint venture would be built in Lorain County, the release said.

ValueHealth’s established relationships with employers and national payers will help UH to deliver more value and a better patient experience through our world-renowned surgical expertise, according to the release.

With five operating rooms, one procedure room and eight post-surgery recovery Stay Suites, the Amherst ambulatory surgery center will focus on orthopedic surgical procedures, with the capacity for 800 total joint replacement cases per year, the release said.

General orthopedic, spine, ear, nose and throat and pain management services also will be provided on-site, according to the release.

The center will be certified through ValueHealth’s nationally recognized Ambulatory Centers of Excellence program with a Total Joint Replacement Certification, meaning it will not only exceed national accrediting standards, but it will meet ValueHealth’s stricter clinical, quality and financial measures, the release said.

UH expects the ambulatory surgery center to create 20-25 new jobs in Lorain County, the release said.

While construction of this center takes place, UH will temporarily initiate this new service model at UH Elyria Medical Center, complementing the comprehensive orthopedic surgical services already offered at UH Elyria Medical Center and throughout the UH health care system, according to the news release.

“We are pleased to offer patients in Lorain County and beyond another option for high-quality orthopedic surgical care, close to home,” said Todd Harford, Chief Operating Officer for UH Elyria Medical Center.

In addition to the ambulatory surgery center, the new UH Amherst health campus will include a medical office building which will house physicians and other providers in a variety of medical and surgical specialties and other ancillary services, the release said.