TriHealth is the latest hospital announcing plans for a new hospital facility in southwest Ohio.
The new TriHealth Heart Hospital on the Bethesda North campus in northern Hamilton County is supported by a $10 million gift to the Bethesda Foundation by Harold and Eugenia Thomas. It’s the second time in two years the couple has given such a gift to the hospital.
The Heart Hospital project began three years ago when TriHealth brought its two cardiac surgery programs ― at Good Samaritan Hospital and Bethesda North Hospital ― under one roof. The project will add another 40,000 square feet of clinical space to the Bethesda North Campus and will modernize another 80,000 square feet of existing space
Construction of the first phase is expected to take 18 months to complete, with an anticipated grand opening in the summer of 2022.
Dr. Stephen Lewis, TriHealth’s Cardiovascular System chief, called the new hospital “a game-changer for the region.”
“Patients needing hospital care in the future will increasingly require a multidisciplinary team approach as age and acuity increases, and the TriHealth Heart Hospital will be perfectly positioned to make this innovative care model a reality,” he said.
TriHealth President and Chief Executive Officer Mark Clement called the hospital project “historic” and “another milestone in TriHealth’s evolution into a truly integrated health care system, capable of managing and improving the health of our community.”
TriHealth’s new heart hospital will add to the expansive cardiac facilities in the region, including the five hospitals within the Mercy Health system, said spokeswoman Nannette Bentley. Mercy Health offers advanced cardiovascular care, including heart attack care, diagnostic and therapeutic coronary intervention, diagnostic electrophysiology and therapeutic cardiac ablation.
Additionally, Miami Valley Hospital, Kettering Medical Center, The Christ Hospital and UC Medical Center have been recognized as heart hospitals in southwest Ohio.
This specialty-specific hospital contributes to the overall healthcare options that have been growing in recent years statewide, according to the Ohio Hospital Association.
Medical facilities planned for 2021 groundbreakings for the new Mercy Health-Cincinnati hospital in Mason (set to open in 2024), as well as Kettering Health’s new breast evaluation center at Troy Hospital. The new Mason hospital will be a $156 million, 60-bed hospital and medical office complex, and Mercy’s first hospital since Merch Health-West was opened in 2014.
Last year, the Fisher-Titus, Adena and Premier health networks and Akron Children’s Hospital opened new medical facilities ― from urgent cares to outpatient facilities ― around the state.
The Butler and Warren counties region is one of the more populous in the state, and Ohio Hospital Association said more health care options are needed in the region.
Butler County is the seventh-largest in Ohio with an estimated 2019 population of 383,134, a 4.1 percent increase over 2010. Warren County ranks 10th with an estimated 2019 population of 234,602, which is a 10.2 percent increase over 2010.
The new Bethesda North heart hospital is just south of these counties in northern Hamilton County, which has an 817,473 estimated population.
