New Orleans-based Ochsner Health System is expanding in the Baton Rouge, La., region as the system grows its outpatient care services.
The expansion project, which exceeds $100 million, includes the recently completed Ochsner Baton Rouge Cancer Center, as well as plans to build a medical office building, microhospital and surgical center along the I-10 Bluebonnet/Siegen Corridor, according to a news release. The corridor projects are slated for completion in 2019. The project also includes expanding several clinics across multiple parishes.
"In keeping with national trends, we've seen an increasing shift from inpatient to outpatient care which is why we are making an investment to provide more comprehensive outpatient facilities. This underlines the demand to support this growth and deliver the right care — convenient and accessible — to patients where they need it," Warner Thomas, president and CEO of Ochsner Health System, said in the release.
The Ochsner Baton Rouge Cancer Center will offer a hematology/oncology outpatient clinic, and will include 15 personalized and semi-private patient chemo infusion stations, the system said.
Ochsner said the five-story, 155,000-square-foot medical office building in the corridor will offer imaging such as X-ray, MRI and CT scan capabilities as well as lab, pharmacy and retail food services. The 10-bed microhospital will be attached to the medical office building.
Additionally, Ochsner plans to expand at least two of its clinics in the Baton Rouge region, open new clinics and "identify additional parishes that will benefit from clinic access, high-end imaging and lab services."
In total, hospital officials expect the new projects to bring nearly 1,630 new jobs to the area during construction and will add more than 450 permanent jobs by 2021.
Read more about the Ochsner projects here.