Allentown, Pa.-based Lehigh Health Valley Network held a ribbon cutting on March 8 to celebrate its first neighborhood hospital, Lehigh Valley Hospital-Macungie (Pa.).
The neighborhood hospital, also known as a micro-hospital, is set to begin serving patients "soon" once it receives approval from the state Department of Health following final inspections, according to a March 8 LVHN news release.
The standalone acute care hospital comprises an 11-bed full-service emergency room, a 10-bed inpatient medical unit and ambulatory diagnostic services. Its inpatient beds will be for patients needing overnight hospital stays, observation, testing or additional care.
The hospital was the final step in completing LVHN's new Macungie medical campus, which opened the Health Center at Macungie last December.
"Overall, LVHN is growing to meet community needs for care and convenience across the areas we serve," Brian Nester, DO, president and CEO of LVHN, said in the release. "That means hiring more doctors, nurses and other health care professionals to be there when you need us, in places like our neighborhood hospitals and their adjacent health centers."
LVHN-Macungie is the first of multiple neighborhood hospitals that the health system is looking to develop in the area, with a second neighborhood hospital and health center under construction in Gilbertsville, Pa., and expected to open later this year.
LVHN comprises 14 hospital campuses and multiple physician practices, rehabilitation locations, ExpressCARE sites, health centers, and other outpatient care locations across Eastern Pennsylvania.