Today, Presbyterian Orthopaedic Hospital received state approval to build a replacement facility that will offer larger and private patient rooms, new operating rooms, accommodations for new technology and amenities not available in the hospital’s current 50-year-old facility. Construction will begin within three to six months and will be completed in 2015.
The hospital will have 64 acute care beds, 16 transitional care beds for skilled nursing care, 12 dedicated observation beds in a Universal Care Center and 10 operating rooms. It will be constructed at the corner of 5th Street and Caswell Road, adjacent to Presbyterian Hospital’s new F Wing. Plans for the current POH hospital site have not been determined. The estimated cost for the new hospital is about $84 million.
"Our staff at Presbyterian Orthopaedic Hospital has done a remarkable job of providing our patients with outstanding care, as demonstrated by our program being named one of the 60 best in the nation by Becker’s Hospital Review in 2011,” said Mike Riley, president of Presbyterian Orthopaedic Hospital. “However, our building is a half-century old and in need of significant operational upgrades. While our structural challenges may not be evident to our patients or visitors, we’ve had to creatively find ways to work around an aging facility. Our new hospital will provide important clinical accommodations and modern conveniences and comforts that could not be offered in our current facility without a significant renovation investment that would be fiscally imprudent.”
Presbyterian Orthopaedic Hospital originally was developed as an extended care facility by a private corporation and was transformed into the Orthopaedic Hospital of Charlotte by a group of orthopaedic surgeons in 1976. Presbyterian purchased 50 percent of the hospital in 1993 and changed the name to Presbyterian Orthopaedic Hospital. In 1998, Novant Health assumed full ownership of the hospital.
Last fall, Presbyterian Orthopaedic Hospital celebrated its 35-year anniversary. The region’s only orthopaedic hospital, it is also ranked in the top 5 percent in the country for surgical care quality measures. In 2010, it earned five disease-specific certifications from The Joint Commission, including hip fracture, hip replacement, knee replacement, laminectomy and spinal fusion.
“We are incredibly proud of the exceptional care our physicians and staff already provide within the walls of the current facility,” said Riley. “We couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to build a brand new hospital and staff it with the experts this community has come to know and trust for their orthopaedic care.”