Dignity Health Folsom Ranch Medical Center
Architect : TBD Location : Folsom Year of expected completion for the first medical office building : late 2023
To accommodate the rapidly expanding community of Folsom , Dignity Health announced plans to build a 30-acre medical center campus in Folsom Ranch , a 3,520-acre master-planned community currently under development . The site is slated to include two medical office buildings and a three-phase hospital project that will grow alongside the community . “ That ’ s the way to do it so we can make sure our capacity increases incrementally as the community does ,” says Dr . Brian Evans , president and CEO of Mercy Hospital of Folsom and Mercy General Hospital . The first structure on the books is a three-story , 65,000-squarefoot medical office building that will house physician offices , specialty services , an ambulatory surgery center and a variety of other services , which could potentially include walk-in services or urgent care . Construction is set to begin in 2022 and be completed by late 2023 .
Following that , development of the first phase of the hospital is set to begin but will take several years to complete . As a result , the city ’ s current acute care hospital , Mercy Hospital of Folsom , which now operates at near capacity , will need to remain open . “ We are going to need Mercy Hospital of Folsom to be operational for the foreseeable future ,” Evans says . “ We still need the capacity there until we have phase two of the hospital done , and that could be quite a way in the future . It could be up to 15 years from now .”
To determine the types of health care services needed for a specific population , Dignity Health is conducting community needs assessments . Based on the findings and the demographics of the community , it will plan for services that accommodate the greatest needs .
Dignity Health has not yet selected an architect for the project but is in the vetting process . “ We definitely need to make sure we have somebody who has a strong vision and understands the healing environment we are trying to create ,” Evans says . “ When we look at both the MOB ( medical office building ) site , as well as the hospital site , we obviously need a functional design , but we also know that when people come to us for health care services , they are looking for healing . The environment they walk into , drive into and interface with is really important to their overall sense of well-being and the healing process . So that is exactly what we are looking to create in Folsom Ranch .”
January 2022 | comstocksmag . com 69