Missouri Orthopeadic Institute Begins Expansion

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Construction is under way for a four-story expansion of the Missouri Orthopeaedic Institute, according to the University of Missouri Health Care based in Columbia.

Opened in 2010, the Missouri Orthopaedic Institute at 1100 Virginia Ave. is the largest freestanding orthopaedic care center in central Missouri. It comes as part of a new investment into health needs and provisions in the state, with many already looking into online evaluations for Missouri medical marijuana card alongside managing to attend this Institute once the expansion has completed construction.

The expansion, which should be complete by 2017, will increase clinical space for surgical, inpatient, outpatient and physical therapy services from approximately 114,000 to almost 200,000 square feet. The fourth floor of the new addition will be dedicated space for research.

“Our original facility was designed and built with the needs of orthopaedic patients as its central focus,” said Dr. James Stannard, chair of orthopaedic surgery at the MU School of Medicine, in a statement. “Because the demand for orthopaedic surgical services has grown so rapidly, we need to expand so that we can maintain an optimum healing environment for the patients we serve.”

The four-story 85,462-square-foot expansion project will include several features. They include five additional operating rooms, two finished and three shelled (for a total of 12 operating rooms). There will also be 22 additional private inpatient rooms (for a total of 42 private inpatient rooms); three additional digital X-ray rooms (for a total of seven digital X-ray rooms); 19 additional outpatient examination rooms, both finished and shelled (for approximately 70 exam rooms total; a fourth floor dedicated to orthopaedic research; a larger restaurant for patients and visitors; and an addition of a coffee kiosk in the main entrance lobby.

Once completed, the main entrance will be relocated from the north side of the building to the east side. The new entrance will include a circle drive for improved patient access to the building.

“Our physicians and medical teams serve patients from every county in the state of Missouri,” said Dr. Patrice “Patrick” Delafontaine, the Hugh E. and Sarah D. Stephenson Dean of the MU School of Medicine, in a statement. “As part of an academic medical center, this facility also plays a vital role in medical education and research. With this expansion, we will advance our mission of healing, teaching and discovery.”

“MU Health has been very successful in recruiting world-class orthopaedic surgeons to MU,” added MU Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin in a statement. “With the expansion of the Missouri Orthopaedic Institute, we will be able to offer a superior platform for patient care, education and research, which is the mission of our health system.”