Methodist Richardson Medical Center opens on-campus ASC

Methodist Richardson (Texas) Medical Center officially opened its new ambulatory surgical center (ASC) in a ribbon-cutting ceremony last week.

Methodist Richardson Medical Center President Ken Hutchenrider, FACHE, told local news outlet Community Impact that the hospital has worked to add an ASC to its campus for three years.

The waiting room at Methodist Richardson's new ASC.

“It’s really to further round out our overall services, because there are patients that need ambulatory surgery, and it makes perfect sense to have it here in an ambulatory center versus coming into the main hospital,” he told Community Impact, which reports that the ASC is part of a $22 million expansion “that aims to boost Methodist Richardson’s surgical capacity and create the foundation for a higher trauma designation.”

Not surprisingly, the ASC, located just north of the main hospital, will handle minor and elective procedures in order to open space in Methodist Richardson’s main ORs for more critical and acute surgeries. Mr. Hutchenrider told Community Impact that the ASC will handle approximately 30 patients a day -- about a third of the normal volume of the main hospital’s ORs. “That will allow us to backfill [our main operating rooms] with a more difficult, more critical type of patient, which is what we’re continuing to enhance and increase at our main facility,” he told the outlet.

Mr. Hutchenrider added that Methodist Richardson plans to add at least two ORs to the main hospital and is considering adding a new tower in the next few years.

Medical Director of Cardiology Nhan Nguyen, MD, will chair the ASC’s board of directors.