Capital Region Medical Center invested about $20 million in its new outpatient surgery center during the past year.
The health care provider held a ribbon-cutting and other celebrations surrounding the center during an all-day event Thursday.
Patients' experiences, payers' demands and other factors have for years caused outpatient procedures to be among the fastest growing sectors of U.S. health care.
The new CRMC center is intended to provide a comfortable, convenient way to get procedures done, according to Emily Mantle, director of marketing and public relations.
The center offers private rooms where patients may be at ease, a comfortable waiting area and a separate exit.
"The post-op and pre-op room will enable the family to get back there sooner and be with them during recovery," Mantle said.
The center, located beneath the Physician's Building at the hospital, 1125 Madison St., hosted staff and Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce for tours Thursday morning. It offered a presentation on bunion procedures, which may commonly be done within its walls.
Podiatry, endoscopy and other common procedures are planned for the facility. The center will give CRMC the chance to expand orthopedic care, Mantle said.
The hospital considered "off-site" locations for the center, but always returned to the space beneath the Physician's Building. That location, although used for parking until recently, had been designed as a potential space for hospital growth. It provided the footprint for the 24,000-square-foot center.
It had the space and convenience the hospital required. Physicians who perform procedures there may return to their offices and their practices in the floors above when procedures are completed.
The community was invited to "kick the tires" Thursday.
"We are super-excited -- it allows us to show-off our operating rooms," Mantle said. "The first surgery is expected to occur in the next couple of weeks."
Julie Smith/News Tribune
Dr. Diane Light points out the LED lighting that will be on during surgery and how the heat from light source could affect the surgical team. She and , walked through Goldschmidt Outpatient Center at Capital Region Medical Center and point out just a few of the many highlights from the newly constructed addition to the Madison Street campus.
Julie Smith/News Tribune
With the technology now available, onky the door in front of one of a series of medicines can be opened, thereby greatly reducing the risk of grabbing the wrong one for the patient. There are multiple ways to check to verify that the medicine procured is the correct one as prescribed by the operating physician.
Julie Smith/News Tribune
Capital Region Medical Center RN Leslie Balk talks about the amenities of the north nurses station in the newly completed Goldschmidt Outpatient Surgery Center during an employee tour of the facility Thursday morning. Balk serves a supervisory role in the center and said how nice it is that the nurses can look right into a room to quickly check on a patient. She said that she also likes having a window to see outside, which in this case, provides a view of the downtown Jefferson City area.