Ascension St. Vincent will invest $325 million to expand its flagship campus in Indianapolis, including relocating Ascension St. Vincent Women's Hospital there and building a new Brain and Spine Hospital.
The work is set to begin later this year and be completed by the end of 2023.
The Women's Hospital is now located adjacent to the Ascension St. Vincent campus. The system said in a press release that in its new 268,000-square-foot building, the women's hospital will have 109 private neonatal intensive care rooms — it now has 97. A computer generated model of the project at ascension.org/86streetfuture shows the current and future configuration of the campus and the exteriors of the new buildings.
Ascension St. Vincent said the new women's hospital will allow it to advance its mission to reduce maternal and infant deaths in Indiana. The existing hospital already is home to the state's largest NICU and one of only two Level IV perinatal health care centers in Indiana.
The new women's hospital will be connected by walkways to the adjacent Peyton Manning Children's Hospital.
The planned Brain and Spine Hospital is part of a collaboration with Goodman Campbell Brain and Spine, a group practice that is not part of Ascension, to create a regional destination for complex neurosurgical care.
"This investment and strategic partnership is in response to significant growth and demand for dedicated neuroscience clinical spaces, including operating rooms, an intensive care unit and an intensive care step-down unit," said Jonathan Nalli, chief executive of Ascension St. Vincent and ministry market executive for Ascension in Indiana.
The hospital will be integrated with Carmel, Indiana-based Goodman Campbell Brain and Spine research institute and will house a neurosurgery residency training program. The care will complement the existing Level 1 trauma center at Ascension St. Vincent Hospital as well as the pediatric neurosurgery program at Peyton Manning Children's Hospital.
In addition to the hospitals, the expansion will include a new parking garage and increased surface parking.
Ascension St. Vincent said 25% of design and construction work for the expansion will be awarded to certified veteran-, women- and minority-owned businesses with at least 50% of every construction dollar going to a company in a community that Ascension St. Vincent serves.
The system operates 24 hospitals and a network of affiliated joint ventures, medical practices and clinics in central and southern Indiana. It employs more than 15,000 associates.