The Maryland Health Care Commission approved a new $225 million patient tower and parking garage to be constructed on the Franklin Square Hospital campus in White Marsh.
The 388,000-square-foot project includes a new emergency department, a 50-bed intensive care unit and four new medical/surgical sections in a five-story building. Franklin Square will grow from 241 to 366 rooms when the tower is complete, and more than 96 percent of the beds at the hospital will be in private rooms.
Private rooms make it easier to allay patient concerns about privacy and comply with federal privacy laws, Hospital President Carl Schindelar said. “When virtually all of your rooms are private rooms, then those assignments are easier,” he said.
The Maryland Health Care Commission grants permission, known as a Certificate of Need, to expand hospitals based on projections of the number of beds and other facilities each jurisdiction will need in the near future, according to the commission?s Web site.
Franklin Square?s emergency department ranks the busiest in Maryland, with more than 98,000 visits in the past fiscal year. The new department will have six treatment zones to handle up to 70 people, triage areas, a “fasttrack” unit, adult emergent care, cardiac/trauma and psychiatric services. A nine-bed pediatric inpatient and emergency unit will improve care for the youngest patients, Schindelar said. It makes it easier for the same physicians to care for children who come to the emergency department then have to be admitted to a pediatric ward.
Franklin Square Hospital Center, a member of MedStar Health, provides primary care and specialty services. Its services include oncology, emergency medicine, cardiology, surgery, obstetrics/gynecology, orthopedics and family medicine.
The original facility opened in 1969. During the last seven years, admissions have grown more than 35 percent. The hospital ranks third in total inpatient admissions among Maryland hospitals.
“Over the years, we have expanded our facilities, but never have we done anything of this magnitude,” Schindelar said. “With the growth of our community, it has become more challenging to manage the steady increase in patient volumes within the constraints of our aging facility.”
Construction, expected to be completed in 2010, will also give the hospital a new four-level parking garage, main entrance, lobby, waiting areas, gift shop and pharmacy.
Plans are under development for the existing hospital space that will be replaced by the new tower. The Maryland Health Care Commission will permit Franklin Square Hospital Center to leave the existing patient care facilities intact.
Hospital officials say they could be returned to service quickly in the event of an emergency.
