Approval of new construction would give the hospital space to expand existing inpatient and procedure areas that no longer have adequate space to meet the needs of the current patient population. 

Baystate Medical Center has announced plans to pursue an ambitious $259 million construction project to replace some of the hospital's aging facilities and create new patient care areas to address the future needs of patients as it seeks to continue to bring quality care of national distinction to the people of Western Massachusetts.

On February 13, 2007, the Baystate Health Board of Trustees voted to support the filing of a Determination of Need (DoN) application with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. DoN applications are required from health care facilities in the Commonwealth who are planning substantial capital expenditures, and approval of the DoN is required for construction on the project. The trustees' vote to endorse the filing of the DON application shows our support and commitment for Baystate's outstanding leaders, physicians and employees who have been engaged in this planning process for over two years, said M. Dale Janes, chair, Board of Trustees, Baystate Health.

The projected 599,100 square feet of new construction will make use of existing land adjacent to Springfield Street and Medical Center Drive. The project, which will include the construction of a new multi-story building connected to existing facilities, will include the replacement and expansion of medical/surgical and intensive care beds and inpatient heart and vascular procedure areas, and the relocation of critical care beds currently located in the hospital's East Wing making space available for administrative and improved non-clinical support services.

The completion of the project will expand the hospital's current 653 licensed beds to 775.

Baystate Medical Center has a long history of providing quality health care to the area with some of our facilities dating back to the late1800s. We have been engaged in a long-term master facilities planning process for Baystate Medical Center to ensure that we have the right capacity and the right environment to continue to provide the very best care to our patients in the future, said Trish Hannon, chief operating officer, Baystate Medical Center, and senior vice president of healthcare operations, Baystate Health. Hannon noted that Baystate Medical Center, which has earned several national awards recently recognizing its patient safety and quality of care, is stretched to its limits in our current environment which includes a variety of challenges including demands that exceed the hospital's current capacity, an overcrowded Emergency Department, a shortage of beds that limits the hospital's ability to carry out its mission of improving the health of the people in our communities every day, with quality and compassion, and a lack of procedure and recovery space which creates a delay in patient care.

Baystate Medical Center's proposed plans mirror a nationwide need for hospitals to update their facilities, many of which were constructed or upgraded in the 1950s. Other factors contributing to the need for new facilities based on the future demands of healthcare, Hannon noted, include:

- "An aging population, including the first baby boomers who will turn 60 in 2006 and 65 in 2011, which will require more inpatient care and services than the hospital now has the capacity to deliver "

- "Disease prevalence related to heart and vascular disease, cancer, neurological disease, and obesity which is expected to rise as the population ages "

- "Treatment for today's patients require new environments and technologies which cannot be properly accommodated in smaller, older procedure rooms, and a nationwide trend to switch to private patient rooms to support best practice in infection control, and that offer more space to accommodate medical equipment and family involvement.

The construction project, which is expected to be completed by 2011, will have a very positive economic impact for Springfield and the region by generating over 200 construction jobs for area workers and 550 permanent clinical and physicians positions at the hospital. We believe that Baystate's leaders are continuing on the path of an exceptional journey that was started long ago in our community dating back approximately 100 years ago when the first additions were made to the Springfield Hospital, Janes said.