HCA Gulf Coast Division is pleased to announce the expansion of two of its Houston facilities: West Houston Medical Center (West Houston) and Kingwood Medical Center (Kingwood), increasing services and providing needed space to serve both growing communities.


The $70 million expansion at West Houston, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, will add more than 112,000 square feet of new construction, 43,813 square feet of renovations and 23,000 square feet of shell space. The project will increase licensed beds by 59 and includes additional Operating Rooms, an Intensive Care Unit, Women’s Services, parking, and registration.

The West Houston project includes a new three-story bed tower that will house cardiac services, including two cardiac cath labs, one bi-plane electrophysiology lab, and five diagnostic procedure rooms with 10 cardiac recovery bays. The tower will also house shell space for future expansion of telemetry medical/surgical beds. The tower is being constructed with future growth in mind, with the ability to expand vertically three additional floors.

$30 million of the total dollars in capital will be spent on expanding women’s services that will be added to a new second floor above the Emergency Department and will include all new Labor and Delivery Rooms, Post Partum Rooms, as well as a new newborn nursery and level II Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The facility has established a joint strategy with The Woman’s Hospital of Texas to enhance the already high-quality women and infant care at West Houston. The women’s wing will be called The Woman’s Hospital of Texas at West Houston.

West Houston is projected to serve more than 47,000 patients in its Emergency Department this year, a 7% growth over 2008, and a good indicator of the need for additional space and services to provide for the increase in admitted patients. Along with additional bed-space, larger, more patient friendly waiting areas and centralized departments will promote patient satisfaction and greater operational efficiency.

West Houston Currently employs more than 1,000 staff and is served by 500 physicians in multiple specialties. Ground breaking on the expansion is expected at the beginning of the year with a completion date in 2012.

Kingwood Medical Center’s $25.5 million, 54,000 square feet expansion comes just two years after completion of a $27 million tower expansion that added 68,000 square feet and 46 beds to the hospital. The new expansion is in response to continued growth in the area. Kingwood and surrounding areas are projected to grow by more than three percent over the next five years.

For more than 18 years Kingwood Medical Center has had a tradition of growing to meet the needs of its community both in terms of space and healthcare innovation. Kingwood began the area’s only interventional cardiology program in October 2005, added the area’s only primary stroke services in July 2007, opened the area’s only cardiac surgery program in November 2007 and established a neurosurgery program in May of this year.

Highlights of the Kingwood expansion include the construction of a fourth and fifth floor on the existing bed tower which will give the facility a total of 56 new, private beds with telemetry capabilities. The Lab will be renovated and expanded with added waiting and reception areas as well as three blood draw stations. Kingwood’s Imaging Department will also get a face-lift with a new waiting area and relaxed environment for all outpatients needing CT, MRI, ultrasound, and X-ray services.

Kingwood Medical Center employs 826 full time staff and expects to add an estimated 225 new employees after the expansion. The increased space will enable the hospital’s physicians and staff to serve 4,000 more patients annually. Ground breaking on the new facility is scheduled for January 2010 with a projected completion date of June 2011.
We are excited about the opportunity to augment and enhance our already exceptional services. Through the continued support of HCA, our community leaders, valued advisors and trustees; we are able to expand these campuses and provide our communities with excellent, compassionate healthcare in quality facilities.