Rob Brooks, Dr. Woody Kennedy and Gregg Gentry at Erlanger finance committee meeting
Erlanger Health System is beefing up its orthopedic surgery program with the latest $2 million project to add two more suites for elective surgeries on the main hospital's sixth floor.
Rob Brooks, chief operating officer, said work is already underway on four new orthopedic operating areas, and the new project will add two more. Plus, new orthopedic surgery suites are at Erlanger's Gunbarrel Road campus.
He said, "The four ORs that are underway are already fully scheduled. They will be full on Day 1."
Mr. Brooks said all six new orthopedic operating suites will open at the same time early next year and all are set to be fully used from the launch date.
He said. "They will give Erlanger a world class, state of the art orthopedic surgery program."
The new suites will have their own entrance, lobby and dining area, and there will be 12 beds for patients nearby.
Adam Royer, administrator of surgical services, said the aim is to "get patients up early. They will be able to eat with other patients."
Donnie Hutcherson, Erlanger board chairman, said he remembers touring the sixth floor several years ago and "it was a ghost town."
Erlanger is also seeing a boom in its urology program that had dropped to "zero" at one time. It is renovating space at the Medical Mall, Suite c925, at a cost of $645,834.
The new area includes 12,196 square feet.
Dr. Amar Singh, a leading Chattanooga urologist, said the current space "was planned for three providers. We are up to 10 and about to go to 12." He said the addition "is way past due."
He said in 2007 the Erlanger urology department was seeing 20 patients a week, and it was up to 50-60 in 2009. He said the department saw 470 patients in the last week.
He said the Erlanger market share "went from zero to 40 percent in eight years."
Erlanger is also spending $1,006,426 to lease gastroenterology scope equipment for three years.
Officials said the hospital could spend about $600,000 more and buy the equipment. However, Kevin Spiegel, president, said the technology changes so quickly that the scopes would become outdated.
"This is the right decision, " he said.
Britt Tabor, finance director, said, "We're going to see more of these type leases. We want to stay current and go to the next level."