Baptist Health Hamburg opened in April to serve a growing need for outpatient care in a convenient location amid a growing neighborhood.
When Lexington’s Central Baptist Hospital opened its doors in 1954, some people worried that the Nicholasville Road campus was too far out from the downtown core to draw enough patients. Lexington’s population then was about 59,000. Today, the city’s head count is 322,000, and the hospital, now known as Baptist Health Lexington, is practically considered part of downtown.
But after decades at the site, which saw a major expansion just a decade ago, Baptist Health Lexington needed to grow again. However, its 32-acre site was out of room. “We are landlocked,” explained Chris Roty, president of Baptist Health Lexington.
Nearly 70 years to the day after the Nicholasville Road hospital opened, a new 344,000-square-foot outpatient medical center called Baptist Health Hamburg began operations in late April. It sits on a portion of a 129-acre site off Polo Club Boulevard and alongside the interstate in east Lexington.
“Access,” Roty emphasized. “We are located near the intersection of I-75 and I-64, and they provide easy access for people in our area and beyond, especially for folks in Eastern Kentucky,” he said.
Getting the word out is job one. “We will soon begin marketing in the outlying counties,” said Ruth Ann Childers, a director of marketing and public relations for the health system. “Even though you can see our hospital signs from the interstate and from Winchester Road, some people may not know that we are now open.”
The $253 million Hamburg hospital is designed to focus on convenient patient care and getting patients back home the same day, according to officials. It has a multidisciplinary outpatient cancer care center, an emergency department with its own ambulances, cardiology and urology services, and breast imaging and other diagnostic and imaging services. The new hospital also features orthopedics and physical therapy, sleep medicine, a laboratory, outpatient and retail pharmacies, and a café.
What the new hospital will not have are floors of patient rooms, because the emphasis is on outpatient medical care. “That does not mean we will not have patient rooms here one day,” Childers said. Meanwhile, the main hospital on Nicholasville Road maintains 434 beds.
Hospital officials stress that modern healthcare is rewriting the rules of patient care. In addition to treating illnesses, more attention is paid to treating the mind, spirit, and family in a personal way.
Looking at the new hospital’s departments, the cancer center is expected to receive much attention. Kentucky ranks No. 1 in the U.S. for cancer incidence and mortality rates, according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The Appalachian region of the state has the highest cancer burden, in part due to poor health practices like smoking and because of lower rates for cancer screenings.
The new Hamburg cancer center will offer varied treatment options, the latest cancer-fighting technology, outpatient surgical procedures, and expert clinical staff. Patients will also be supported in their journey by personalized navigators, therapists, and dietitians.
“We will offer here what we offer at our main campus, which is infusion cancer therapy with chemotherapy and radiation therapy,” Roty said. “The surgery center is all outpatient, all elective. We will not be doing emergency surgeries.”
Although it is primarily an outpatient medical center, Baptist Health Hamburg maintains a fully functional emergency room. “If someone walks into our ER with chest pains, we will stabilize them and get them over to our main campus. The same with strokes,” Childers said.
Childers shared a story about a recent emergency case. A mother-to-be in labor was being driven from Madison County to the main Baptist Health hospital on Nicholasville Road. “The mother kept saying to her husband: ‘Stop.’ He said, ‘No, I can make it,’” Childers said. “They passed the new Baptist Health Hamburg hospital and also St. Joseph East Hospital on the way.”
Childers happened to spot the couple’s vehicle fighting through traffic on Nicholasville Road with flashers on. The baby ended up arriving safely in the vehicle in the hospital parking lot. “We could have delivered that baby for her at the Hamburg hospital,” Childers said. “We don’t do obstetrics here, technically, and we don’t have a nursery or a NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). But she would have been fine if she stopped in that emergency room. Then we would have stabilized her and later transferred her to the main campus.”
The employee count at Baptist Health Hamburg is about 260, said Roty, but that could grow to 600 to 700 employees in the coming years, depending on patient volume. A shortage of registered nurses in Kentucky and nationwide is a challenge. Baptist Health, like others, uses some agency nurses who offer their services short or long term as needed. But it is costly. “We also don’t want to gut the Nicholasville Road hospital of nurses to move them to Hamburg and then create another shortage back there,” Roty said.
Roty says the recruiting message to nurse job candidates is straightforward. “We have a great culture. A culture of ‘nice.’ We offer similar services to what our competitors offer.” Another recruiting advantage is that Baptist Health Lexington is designated a magnet hospital for nursing. Magnet status is the highest institutional honor awarded for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). “Most nurses strive to work at a magnet hospital,” he said. “It’s just a different culture here.”
The economic impact of the project is apparent to Lexington mayor Linda Gorton, who spoke at the hospital’s ribbon cutting. “This development not only brings new jobs to our community, but new revenue that will continue to build our quality of life and maintain our low cost of living,” she said.
Roty said the plan for the yet-to-be-developed portion of the Hamburg property is to fill it out with healthcare-related facilities, such as another medical office building. “We could use some conference space,” he added. “A hotel next door would be nice for those who want to stay close by on the night before their outpatient surgery. Some healthy food restaurants would also be welcomed.”