McCarthy Breaks Ground on Oklahoma Heart Hospital Expansion

OKLAHOMA CITY — McCarthy Building Companies Inc., a national construction firm, broke ground November 2017 on the $150 million expansion of the Oklahoma Heart Hospital’s (OHH) south campus in Oklahoma City. This new addition will include a six-story, 228,338-square-foot Mercy hospital tower on the campus’ west side.

McCarthy Building will oversee the expansion of this medical facility as the construction manager, which will offer an additional 44-patient beds; eight cardiac care unit beds; a catheterization lab; two inpatient pharmacies; imaging, prep and surgery areas; a post-anesthesia care unit; a chapel; a lobby and registration area; and administration and shell space. Construction will also include a helipad and several hundred additional parking spaces with a new parking garage and parking lot.

Both OHH and Mercy will share the facility, preceding a 15-year partnership between the two healthcare organizations, which provides patients in northwest Oklahoma City with quality cardiac care and services.

According to a statement, the construction team is applying advanced technology to construct the new patient tower, including building information modeling (BIM), real-time estimating and virtual plan rooms to carry the project with optimal quality and efficiency. McCarthy is also implementing Lean principles, including pull-planning schedules. The project will be phased to ensure the safety of patients, visitors and staff.

“The McCarthy team is excited to partner with Oklahoma Heart Hospital and Mercy to expand their healthcare resources and capacity in the Oklahoma City region,” said McCarthy Senior Project Manager  Joe Lewandowski in a statement.

The hospital’s south campus, totaling 163,000 square feet, originally opened in 2010 with 46-patient rooms and has treated thousands of patients every  .

With the completion of this project, the new facility will also accommodate 25 percent more parking than the current Mercy Hospital in northwest Oklahoma City, according to a statement.

Bhargav Goswami, senior medical planner of EYP Health, explained that this new addition is designed to accommodate the services, brands, patients, staff and clinical practices of two institutions and three separate hospital entities. This ultimately requires designing for a wide range of possibilities. For example, the structural grid has to be flexible to accommodate the critical care room standards to both institutions on separate floors.

The design created a unique institution-focused architectural brand on specific floors and patient centers while having common off-stage support systems. The integration of healthy stairs within a highly visible, three-story interconnecting space encourages walking and promotes good way-finding. The addition will provide convenient outpatient care while connecting to a continuum of high acuity inpatient and therapeutic care in the same footprint.

“There was lots of discussion around integrating aspects of the Mercy and OHH IT systems to best provide care for patients within the new addition,” said Goswami. “Mercy patients will receive support services, like labs, pharmacy and food service from Oklahoma Heart Hospital. Patients may be moved from one hospital to another within the new addition depending on acuity and service required. Patient data and equipment will need to be able to communicate with systems of both institutions.”

According to the organizations’ websites, OHH is a physician-owned and cardiologist-designed hospital. Being the first of its kind in Oklahoma, the facility brings world-class medical expertise and compassion to the care of every patient. Mercy, named one of the top five large U.S. health systems in 2017 by Truven, an IBM Watson Health company, serves millions annually.

“We are always looking for ways to meet the growing health care needs of our community,” said David Whitaker, chief administrative officer of Mercy in Oklahoma, according to a statement. “As more people move south, we can better accommodate them by providing the same level of care they already know and trust.”

Emergency room service to the entire campus will remain active during construction, with the expansion of the ER expected to begin in 2018. The new hospital will also include space for an intensive care unit and pharmacy.

The goal of this new facility is to ultimately fill a growing gap in healthcare services in the region. It is expected to bring together synergies and patient needs of OHH and Mercy at the OHH South Campus, and allow sharing of services and support programs so both institutions can focus on their strengths.

Construction of the project is expected to be completed by 2020.