The Board of Trustees approved the construction of a $1.79 billion hospital tower as part of the Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State in a special meeting of the full board Wednesday. Credit: Amal Saeed | Former Photo Editor
The Board of Trustees unanimously approved plans to construct a $1.79 billion hospital tower during a full-board special public session Wednesday. The 26-story inpatient hospital will be the largest single facilities project in the history of Ohio State, according to a university press release.
Originally proposed in 2017, the tower will be located on Cannon Drive among the existing medical campus and will be completed by early 2026, according to the release. It will expand on the Rhodes Hall and Doan Hall hospitals of the Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State.
“The 820-bed, near two million square foot inpatient hospital project is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform and propel the Wexner Medical Center by advancing the research, education, and outreach goals of the university,” Robert Schottenstein, trustee and chair of the Master Planning and Facilities committee, said.
In addition to the 820 beds, the hospital tower will house 60 neonatal intensive care unit bassinets, operating rooms and an emergency department, Dr. Harold Paz, university executive vice president and chancellor for Health Affairs and CEO of the Wexner Medical Center, said.
“We have to put more emphasis around critical care services, and how we can most efficiently care for patients, so they are prepared for what happens next,” Paz said.
The new tower will improve upon several areas where the near 70-year-old Doan Hall has fallen short, Frank Aucremanne, associate vice president of facilities for the Wexner Medical Center, said. New operating rooms will be one and a half to two times the size of the ones used currently, and all patient rooms will be one-patient rooms to increase patient comfort and minimize spread of infectious diseases.
“Doan has served well beyond its expected life, and more importantly, the building can no longer support the rapid advancements in healthcare delivery that we’re seeing today,” Aucremanne said.
Ohio State President-elect Kristina M. Johnson echoed the importance of the hospital tower in the release, for both the university and Ohio as a whole.
“The new inpatient hospital will serve as a model for 21st-century hospitals by further integrating research, diagnosis, treatment and education,” Johnson said. “Ohio State is advancing the future of health care for a rapidly growing community, and this serves as an investment in the health and wellness of the state of Ohio.”
