United Regional Health Care System has begun construction on a new Outpatient Imaging Center at the corner of 12th and Alma streets adjacent to the hospital.
The $45 million, two-story, 53,000-square-foot facility is expected to be complete by December 2026, according to a media release from the hospital.
“We’re trying to make it a one-stop shop at the imaging center so patients don’t have to come into the hospital. They can just swing by the imaging center, park, come in, get their images and go on about their day,” Mark Wright,URHCS director of radiology and outpatient diagnostics, said.
Wright said the facility will have state-of-the-art equipment for MRI, CT, ultrasound, mammography and diagnostics. He said the center will handle services from proactive care to surgical scheduling, and patients may get their images within minutes.
“It’s really fully encompassing imaging services,” Wright said. “It can even just be routine services like annual mammogram screenings or CT lung screenings for patients that have been smokers.”
He said the services will be available to “anyone within or outside of our community.”
At present, the imaging services are offered at the main hospital location and its Barnett Road location.
When the new center is open, services at the Barnett Road location will continue for a time, Wright said.
He said URHCS embarked on the project as an opportunity “to expand our capacity to meet the growing need of our community.”
The facility will also house a retail pharmacy, which will streamline the process for patients to acquire their discharge medications, thereby reducing hospital readmissions, the press release said.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: URHCS begins construction on new facility
Reporting by Lynn Walker, Wichita Falls Times Record News / Wichita Falls Times Record News
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