BUTLER-WARREN COUNTY HEALTH CARE EXPANSION
Cincinnati- and Dayton-area health systems have the following building projects in various stages in Butler and Warren counties:
• The Christ Hospital Health Network has confirmed plans to expand in Butler County, but has shared little more in details about the project or investment. Spokeswoman Christa Moore said only that "we have made a significant commitment."
• Already Liberty Twp.'s largest employer, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center has a pair of construction projects underway at its Liberty Campus, which can be seen from Interstate 75. The total investment to add an inpatient floor and built a proton therapy center for cancer treatment is approximately $160 million;
• Premier Health, which operates Middletown hospital Atrium Medical Center, is on track to open this spring an $11.5 million medical facility in Mason including a 24-hour emergency center, physician offices and medical spa. Most recently, Atrium revealed plans to add a wound care center in Middletown;
• Kettering Health Network opened in February a freestanding emergency department in Franklin. It's the same hospital group that owns Fort Hamilton Hospital;
• Additionally, West Chester Hospital is constructing a new maternity unit to open this year; and
• TriHealth and Oxford hospital McCullough-Hyde Memorial finalized plans earlier this year to affiliate, a deal in which TriHealth will take majority ownership in the independently-owned Butler County hospital. TriHealth first started expanding into Butler County in 2012 with the purchase of the former Butler County Medical Center in Hamilton. A 51,000-square-foot expansion is underway on the Bethesda Butler campus to expand from 10 patient beds to 48 beds during multiple phases of construction to be completed later this year and next.
As construction enters the final stretch for a new inpatient floor at Cincinnati Children’s Liberty Campus, patients, families and visitors will notice some changes.
The pediatric hospital’s Liberty Campus is the site of a pair of construction projects to add a new, fourth-level inpatient floor and open a proton therapy center for cancer treatment.
The hospital's second floor entrance and exit — the doors facing Interstate 75 — are now closed for approximately two weeks beginning March 14 while crews reconfigure the second floor concourse, according to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. According to construction updates posted by Cincinnati Children's online, patients and families can access the second floor through a temporary entrance created on the same side of the building.
One of the first projects to be completed as part of the overall construction plan will be the expanded first floor cafeteria, which is planned to open next month, according to the updates provided on the hospital’s website. Larger serving and seating areas will open in April, and new menu items will be available in August when a full-service kitchen opens, according to the hospital.
Cincinnati Children’s announced in 2013 a total $160 million in expansion plans for its Liberty Campus in Butler County, a standalone hospital with emergency services that first opened in 2008. The facility can be seen from I-75, and is located off the Ohio 129 interchange.
The work underway to build a fourth floor onto the hospital will accommodate about 30 new inpatient beds. Once complete, there will be about 42 total inpatient beds for overnight stays. Work on the building expansion will also add a kitchen; cafeteria; clinic and therapy space; expanded pharmacy and gift shop; renovated lab and blood bank; a family resource center; and support space for Materials Management and Information Services, hospital officials have previously told Journal-News.
Plans are to open the expanded inpatient beds and services in August.
Crews are also building a more than 80,000-square-foot proton therapy and research center for cancer treatment at the Liberty Campus. Proton therapy is expected to open in 2017.
“Construction of the proton therapy center is moving along on schedule. Work is progressing both inside and outside the facility with approximately 100 workers per day on site,” said Terry Loftus, spokesman for Cincinnati Children’s.
Liberty Campus averages about 180,000 patient visits a year, according to hospital officials.
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