A $100 million investment underway at HCA Houston Healthcare North Cypress will facilitate easier expansion projects in the future and support the hospital's broader strategic goals, the hospital's CEO recently told Becker's.
In August, Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare shared plans for a three-story expansion at the hospital that will bring its total licensed bed count to 216, up from its current 163 beds.
"While this is a 53-bed expansion with a heavy price tag, it does allow for future expansion that is less intensive for the campus as a whole," Jim Brown, CEO of HCA Houston Healthcare North Cypress, said.
The project, set to be complete in spring 2026, will include a 22-bed acute rehabilitation unit and a 31-bed medical-surgical unit. It marks HCA's largest capital investment in the facility since acquiring it in 2018. The expansion will ultimately enable the hospital to keep more high acuity services in the market and make future expansions more cost effective, according to Mr. Brown.
Once complete, the hospital anticipates the majority of patients in the new rehab unit will likely be those who were discharged from the hospital.
"As we study our discharges, we know that we can justify that investment and keep those admissions within our system," Mr. Brown said.
The hospital is also working on raising its trauma designation from a level 4 to a level 3, which will increase the demand for critical care services. The med-surg bed expansion will allow North Cypress to repurpose existing med-surg space for ICU bed expansions, he said. The hospital operates 24 ICU beds, which could grow to 44 once the project is complete.
With Cypress among the fastest-growing areas in Houston, officials anticipate additional expansions within the next several years.
"We don't anticipate this to be the last expansion of our hospital," Mr. Brown said, adding the current project is further expandable by three stories, which could ultimately take the hospital's bed count to more than 300. "Likely within the next five years we'll be able to add a fourth, a fifth and a sixth floor to this tower that we're constructing today."