Cleveland-based MetroHealth plans to convert medical offices in Cleveland Heights and Parma, Ohio, into community hospitals.
The planned community hospitals will be geared toward patients who require shorter hospital stays. The current medical offices — which were formerly HealthSpan urgent care sites and medical offices — already contain emergency departments, as well as lab, pharmacy and radiology services.
MetroHealth plans to add 12 single-occupancy patient rooms at the Cleveland Heights facility and 16 rooms at the Parma location. Patients requiring more intensive specialty care can access MetroHealth's main hospital campus, which is less than 12 miles away from both facilities.
The addition of the community hospitals means 80 percent of residents in Cuyahoga County will be within a 15-minute drive of a MetroHealth Hospital.
Construction is expected to be complete by the end of 2017, and the facilities will begin treating patients in January.