When Houston Methodist opens its ninth hospital March 17, in Cypress, Texas, the opening will mark a major milestone for both the city of Cypress — being its first hospital to open in nearly a decade — and for Houston Methodist on its journey to expand access. Yet, beyond reaching these two milestones, the hospital also offers two critical features for any forward-looking facility: cutting-edge technology and capacity for growth.
The $685 million project sits on a 105-acre campus along Highway 290. The acute-care facility hospital opens with 100 hospital beds, 18 emergency room beds, nine operating rooms, 18 childbirth center rooms, eight neonatal ICU rooms, and an on-site laboratory. The facility also houses medical office buildings with specialized centers for cancer care, breast care, orthopedics and sports medicine, infusion therapy, and outpatient lab services.
"Healthcare is one of those services that folks are looking for," Trent Fulin, CEO and senior vice president of Houston Methodist Cypress (Texas) Hospital, told Becker's. "So we've always been very intentional in wanting to come to the Cypress market with a full-scale, acute care hospital, and now the timing was right for us to add this service here at Houston Methodist."
Designed as a "hospital of the future," Houston Methodist Cypress features "smart" rooms equipped with integrated voice response systems, a comprehensive 5G network, and ambient intelligence.All of this technology represents the culmination of pilot programs begun over the past years at sister hospitals, said Mr. Fulin.
It is "really a culmination of all those pilots and graduated technologies coming together in one place. We were able to build it from the ground up," he said.
The technology also aims to reduce administrative work for front-line workers, allowing them to spend more time with patients.
"Over the years, as our EMRs have developed, more and more documentation has been placed on nurses," said Mr. Fulin. "So, it's all about driving efficiencies, reducing documentation time and fostering a more natural relationship between clinicians and patients — allowing our team members to truly enjoy practicing medicine, no matter what area they're in."
To staff the facility, Houston Methodist Cypress has hired more than 700 employees from nearly 45,000 applications.
Mr. Fulin said to ensure that the Houston Methodist culture is embedded in the new hospital, Houston Methodist Cypress was intentional in how the team was selected.
"I built the executive team from the ground up, bringing in executives from across our system who have breadth and depth of experience," he said. "Then, about nine months to a year ahead of opening, we began building the leadership team with a lot of intention. We wanted some leaders to come from Houston Methodist because they have the historical background and know the culture. But we also wanted to create a beautiful melting pot of leadership — not just from the greater Houston area, but also leaders who were attracted to Houston Methodist, had heard about us and wanted to move to Texas."
As a result of these efforts, about 30% of the staff were internal hires, while about 70% came from external health systems in the greater Houston area, as well as from organizations in New York and California.
The executive team includes Mr. Fulin, Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President Caroline Mascarenhas, DNP, and Nick Desai, DPM, who holds the positions of COO and chief medical officer. There are also around 50 leaders — directors and managers — who are opening the facility, Mr. Fulin said.
"We brought them on early, and they went through an extensive eight-week leadership and organizational development orientation at Houston Methodist to really understand the culture, the resources and the overall strategy," he added. "We're all about being unparalleled in safety, quality, service and innovation. So, we onboarded the leaders, and then they hired their staff of over 700 to come and open the hospital."
Mr. Fulin said moving forward, he anticipates rapid growth in full-time employees, along with future construction expansions, at Houston Methodist Cypress.
"We built a very universal hospital chassis that provides a strong foundation for continued growth. We're opening with about 100 beds, which can expand to 276 beds in this first phase of the project," he said.
"Ultimately, this facility is master-planned for over 540 total beds. So, a strong physical foundation, along with a robust IT and technology foundation, has set us up for many years of growth. As the community grows, we plan to grow along with it."