A long-planned revamp of Montefiore Mount Vernon Hospital is finally moving forward.
The health system filed paperwork with the state on Monday requesting approval to expand the 121-bed facility’s emergency department, operating rooms and primary care services at a cost of $46 million. The plan has changed drastically in the years since it was first proposed, influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic and a changing calculus of the suburbs’ medical needs.
When Montefiore administrators first signaled changes were coming to Mount Vernon Hospital in 2019, the plan was to nix beds for hospital admissions and replace the facility with a freestanding ambulatory pavilion, including an emergency department and offices for primary and specialty care. Patients who needed to be admitted would be transferred to nearby facilities, administrators said at the time.
But the pandemic delayed construction, which was supposed to begin in 2020, and exposed the need for hospital bed space throughout Westchester.
“The world was very different back then,” said Regginald Jordan, the hospital’s executive director.
The new plan will maintain the hospital’s bed count but expand the footprint of its emergency department and surgical units, with upgraded equipment. The current 2,500-square-foot emergency department will grow to 11,000 square feet with 30 private treatment bays. The expansion is expected to more than double the capacity from a current 18,000 to 20,000 emergency visits a year to 50,000 when construction is completed, Jordan said.
The operating rooms will also be expanded and upgraded with new robotic devices. The hospital currently has an average of four available operating rooms, the largest of which is 400 square feet. The expansion will bring the number of rooms to six. The OR expansion will include two dedicated gastrointestinal suites, a new post-anesthesia care unit, an ambulatory surgery unit and a central sterilization department. The hospital’s primary care offices will also get a facelift including a new lobby and ungraded patient exam rooms.
The cost of the project has grown from an initial $41 million, which is covered by a state grant. The remaining nearly $5 million is the result of the rising cost of technology and construction and will be paid for through a loan from Montefiore Einstein, Jordan said.
Once approved by the state Department of Health, the so-called master plan will take three to five year to complete, Jordan said. Administrators expect the project to create 200 long-term union jobs and between 200 and 300 construction jobs.
The construction is part of Montefiore’s increasing push into the suburbs. The health system operates 10 hospitals and 200 clinics in the Bronx and Hudson Valley.
