Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center has submitted a Certificate of Need application for a $152 million expansion of its Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The five-story addition, to be built on top of the existing outpatient Comprehensive Cancer Center, would consolidate inpatient and outpatient services in a single location. The 266,115 square-foot project will relocate 135 existing acute care beds and 57 existing and incremental day hospital beds to the expanded Cancer Center tower. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2012.
“The expansion will meet a growing demand for inpatient capacity and will greatly improve convenience for patients by bringing all cancer services under one roof,” said Donny Lambeth, president of North Carolina Baptist Hospital.
The acute care beds in the proposed project include 107 medical/surgical acute care beds and 28 critical-care beds that include blood and marrow transplant (BMT) beds. The services were selected after a comprehensive review of internal capacity and projected need and demand for oncology inpatient beds. All rooms will be private, make use of natural light and be designed to accommodate families.
Oncology critical care beds are currently located throughout seven medical and surgical critical care units. The 28 dedicated cancer critical care beds in the project represent a first for Wake Forest Baptist.
The cancer program is “growing beyond existing capacity,” said Lambeth.
Cancer is the fastest-growing service of the Medical Center and the inpatient service is overcrowded.
The Comprehensive Cancer Center is one of only 40 NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the United States. In 2008 US News & World Report ranked the program 26th in the country.
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Media Contacts: Jonnie Rohrer, (336) 716-6972, jrohrer@wfubmc.edu, or Bonnie Davis, (336) 716-4977, bdavis@wfubmc.edu
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