Washington Business Journal: VHC Health set to open long-awaited outpatient pavilion on Arlington hospital campus
By Sara Gilgore - Staff Reporter, Washington Business Journal
VHC Health is about a month out from opening a new outpatient pavilion in Northern Virginia, the culmination of a multiyear project that stands to create more capacity in its hospital and increase access to care.
The new seven-story building, set to open to patients July 17, brings 250,000 square feet to 1800 N. Edison St. on the health system’s Arlington campus. The $250 million project aims to centralize VHC’s outpatient offerings while also freeing up space at Virginia Hospital Center for more inpatient services including cancer, cardiac and stroke care, VHC CEO Christopher Lane told us.
“By bringing outpatient services together under one roof, patients can now be conveniently scheduled for diverse health care services and seen within the same facility, often on the same day,” Lane said. But that convenience “is only one benefit to the patient,” he said, also noting that centralizing these service means better coordinated care, communication between doctors and patients, more efficient workflows “and a comprehensive approach to health care.”
The outpatient pavilion — which broke ground in October 2019 after a long leadup and years of obstacles — comprises surgery, rehab, imaging, pharmacy, lab, endoscopy services and physical therapy, as well as physician offices. It also has a 26,000-square-foot women’s health center on its fifth floor for obstetrics and gynecology, maternal-fetal medicine, genetics, breast health, urology, cardiology, advanced radiology, vascular diagnostics, and aging and menopause care, according to VHC. That’s set to open in the fall.
The new facility includes a cafe and garden, with open green spaces for patients and community members. And the pavilion itself was designed with green building practices in mind, with a glass exterior to maximize sunlight and maximized energy efficiency, according to VHC.
The project also includes a 1,600-space parking garage for VHC employees that opened in September to free up spots in the campus’ other cramped existing garages for patients and visitors.
VHC’s 437-bed acute-care facility at 1701 N. George Mason Drive is poised for a major renovation of its own — the nonprofit’s next big project, which includes adding more medical-surgical beds, mental health care and emergency services, Lane said.
That’s alongside the system’s ambulatory care expansion. Next up: a primary care office in the 3000 block of Hamaker Court in Fairfax, slated to open at the end of 2023, he said. That would follow practices that have recently gone live in Kingstowne, Springfield and Alexandria — the latest in a longer roster of clinics VHC has opened over the past couple of years.
“We want to bring the care to the community as much as we possibly can,” Lane told us last year. “That’s really the best model right now: Patients want to be seen closer to home. If they need us from a hospital standpoint, we’re going to be here, but we want to bring that care to them, to their community.”
VHC is also conceiving a behavioral health and rehab facility at 601 S. Carlin Springs Road, a few miles south of the hospital campus, to meet demand for mental health and addiction services as opioid drug overdoses rise. The system told us in January it expects to invest $80 million in the project, which is targeting a late 2025 delivery.
