A new “neighborhood hospital” concept was announced by Lehigh Valley Health Network Dec. 5 at a groundbreaking ceremony at the site of a new facility expected to open by the end of 2023.

Brian A. Nester, DO, MBA, president and CEO of the health network, said the new facility, Lehigh Valley Hospital–Macungie, will be built at 3369 Route 100, at the Lower Macungie Township/Macungie Borough border. The site previously was the location of a Weis Market, which was demolished after a new Weis Market was built on a site across Route 100.

The new hospital is a type of facility informally known in the health care industry as a neighborhood hospital. The footprint of the facility, at about 20,000-square-feet, will have a full-service emergency room and a limited number of inpatient beds. It will be smaller than other LVHN hospitals in the region, such as Lehigh Valley Hospital–Cedar Crest.

The advantage of the new hospital, Nester said, will be to help meet increasing demand for accessible and convenient emergency room service and inpatient care.

In-house hospital services will include lab, imaging and pharmacy. Imaging services, including X-ray, ultrasound, CT scan and MRI also will be offered on an outpatient basis.

The hospital will be a fully licensed and accredited acute care hospital, open 24-hours-a-day, seven days a week, housed in a state-of-the-art facility. Patients requiring surgery or higher levels of care will be stabilized and transferred to other, larger LVHN hospitals as needed.

A 30,000-square-foot medical office building – the Health Center at Macungie – will also be part of the project. It will house a variety of medical services, including HNL Lab Medicine, Lehigh Valley Physician Group family medicine, orthopedics and pediatric practices. In addition, the health center will offer outpatient adult rehabilitation and cardiac and vascular diagnostic testing.

David Burmeister, DO, chair of the Department of Emergency and Hospital Medicine, said the neighborhood hospital model will deliver shorter ER wait times and favorable door-to-discharge time.

Officials said the hospital offers more capability than an ExpressCARE facility, with experience and expertise available to treat the same cases traditionally offered at a larger LVHN hospital.

LVHN is planning several other similar hospitals at other locations in the region. They will be announced over the coming months as necessary approvals are secured.