As they broke ground yesterday on a new “mini hospital” in southern York County, WellSpan Health officials identified the next two locations for the small-format medical centers: the Carlisle area and northern York County.
The regional health system is opening the three mini hospitals — in partnership with Texas-based specialty operator Emerus — to bring inpatient and emergency care closer to communities distant from larger, traditional hospitals.
How far? The goal is to place the facilities in communities where people face at least a 20-minute drive to the nearest medical center, said Roxanna Gapstur, WellSpan’s president and CEO.
The Shrewsbury area, site of WellSpan’s first mini hospital, fits the bill.
“This was an area that we felt really could use care right in the neighborhood,” Gapstur told biznewsPA following a ground-breaking ceremony on April 23.
Where is this happening: The mini hospital is slated to rise at 13515 Wolfe Road in Hopewell Township, next to an existing WellSpan office and near the southernmost Pennsylvania exit off Interstate 83.
Expected to open in late 2025, WellSpan Shrewsbury Hospital will include an emergency department, 10 inpatient beds and a range of diagnostic services, including CT scans, X-rays and lab services.
While the hospital will carry the WellSpan brand, it will be staffed and operated by Emerus.
Emerus operates 42 mini hospitals nationwide, employing more than 2,000 people, for partners such as Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Health Network and Wilmington, Delaware-based Christiana Care.
What’s next: Mini hospitals in the Carlisle and Newberry Township areas, according to WellSpan spokesperson Ryan Coyle, who declined to provide the addresses.
However, the health system is likely to break ground on the two facilities by this summer.
WellSpan operates six traditional acute-care hospitals in Adams, Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon and York counties.
WellSpan’s partners on the Shrewsbury project include law firm Barley Snyder, Houston-based architectural firm PhiloWilke, investment firm Rethink Capital, Dallas-based real estate developer Trammell Crow, York-based engineering and design firm Warehaus and Manchester Township-based construction company Wagman.
The health system paid $4 million for the Hopewell Township property, according to county deed records.
