The LHP Hospital Group and the Seton Family of Hospitals, a major provider of healthcare services in Central Texas, have formed a joint venture to construct Seton Medical Center Harker Heights near Fort Hood, Texas.
The approximately $100 million, 180,400-square-foot, 83-bed hospital is slated to open in the third quarter of 2012. Groundbreaking is scheduled for the first quarter of 2011.
Seton is a member of the non-profit Ascension Health and is also affiliated with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. The health system operates five major medical centers, two community hospitals, two rural hospitals and an inpatient mental health hospital.
Plano, Texas-based LHP provides capital and expertise to not-for-profit hospitals and hospital systems. The company forms joint ventures to acquire, own, operate and manage acute care facilities in small cities and select urban markets throughout the United States.
“Incredible growth in Bell and the surrounding counties, and the overwhelming desire in the local community to have a choice in health care providers, were two of the factors that drove our decision to partner with LHP Hospital Group in this venture,” said Charles J. Barnett, FACHE, president and CEO of the Seton Family of Hospitals.
The hospital campus will include a 60,000-square-foot medical office building being developed by Rendina Companies, one of the nation’s largest full-service healthcare real estate development firms, in joint ownership with specialists who will occupy the building.
The joint venture’s governing board will have equal representation from LHP and Seton, and a board of trustees composed of physicians and community leaders will oversee day-to-day operating decisions.
“The hospital will feature a full-service emergency department plus acute care services including women’s services, obstetrics, cardiology, surgery, oncology, neurosurgery, orthopedics, imaging and diagnostic services, general medical and surgical services and intensive and critical care," said Dan Moen, CEO of LHP.
Charles Day, MD, president of Killeen Investment Partners, said support for the project is "overwhelming" among local private practitioners.
"LHP has involved the medical community since the project’s inception, and we look forward to continued participation after construction is complete," Day said. "Quality medical care will be enhanced for our patients by having a choice of possible options."