Dive Brief:
- Saint Luke's Health System of Kansas City said Friday that the health system is planning to build the first "microhospital" in the region, Kansas City Business Journal reports.
- The facility will be located in Overland Park and will take up 17,000 square feet with eight patient beds.
- The microhospital will look like any other aside from being smaller, Saint Luke's Health System CEO Dr. Melinda Estes told the Journal, and will offering everything from an ED and Level IV trauma center, to inpatient care, radiology, and a pharmacy.
Dive Insight:
The move by Saint Luke's is part of a larger strategy by the health system to open numerous microhospitals in the near future, as well as part of a nationwide trend.
Saint Luke's will deploy "a whole group" of branded emergency hospitals over the next couple of years, according to the Journal, though no other locations have yet been announced. The Journal noted the Overland Park microhospital, to be located at 75th and Marty streets, will be only blocks from Shawnee Mission Medical Center and just across the street from a Walgreens walk-in clinic.
Clinics are also part of Saint Luke's strategy. The system and Midwest supermarket chain Hy-Vee have partnered to open eight to 12 convenient care clinics in the region, with five now open so far in Kansas City. Saint Luke's also previously announced plans last year to open a multispecialty clinic in Overland Park.
The health system is far from alone in its aim to bring full-scale care to people in a smaller and more intimate setting that's close to home, particularly in large urban and suburban population centers. Among the states where they are catching on are Texas, Colorado, Nevada, and Arizona. The microhospitals differ from urgent care or freestanding EDs in being fully-licensed, 24/7 inpatient facilities with primary care and other services.