PITTSBURGH (TNS) — Geisinger Medical Center will begin work next year on an $880 million expansion at its flagship Montour County hospital, which will double the square footage of the emergency department and make all patient rooms private in the 550-bed hospital.
Tuesday’s announcement comes as Geisinger continues a $900 million expansion and upgrade at its 309-bed Wyoming Valley Medical Center near Wilkes-Barre in Luzerne County, bringing the total value of system upgrades that are underway to nearly $1.8 billion.
The new emergency department at the Danville hospital in Montour County will have 60 beds, up from 45 beds currently, and expand and update intensive care units and operating rooms that will surround the emergency department. The new ER will be contained in an 11-story tower that will be built near the hospital’s main entrance.
The Danville project gets underway in 2025 with the demolition of Dickey Clinic, which will make room for the new tower. Site development work already has started at the medical center and completion of the tower is expected by 2028.
“This project will truly transform care,” Geisinger President and CEO Terry Gilliland said in a prepared statement. “It’s proof of our commitment to making better health easier for our communities today and into the future.”
Meanwhile, work continues on $900 million in upgrades that began last year, including privatizing all patient rooms, at the Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center. The project, which will occur in phases, will double the size of the existing campus. A planned 11-story tower is scheduled to open by 2028 with additional renovations continuing through 2030.
Geisinger was founded in 1915 by philanthropist Abigail Geisinger and the nonprofit health system generates $10 billion in annual revenue across 126 care sites, including 10 hospitals. Geisinger also operates a health insurance arm, Geisinger Health Plan, which has enrollment exceeding 500,000 in commercial and government plans.
In March, Geisinger became the first member of Risant Health, a nonprofit charitable organization based in Washington. Risant was created in 2023 by Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Foundation Hospitals to leverage technology and other capabilities to improve medical care while lowering overall costs.
Risant anticipates adding four to five additional health systems to its portfolio over the next four to five years.
Central Pennsylvania’s health care market has grown increasingly competitive in recent years, where UPMC rivals have sought to contain the Pittsburgh-based health care giant’s heft in medicine and health insurance.
Things began heating up in 2016 with UPMC’s acquisition of Susquehanna Health, a four-hospital system that included the 224-bed Williamsport Regional Medical Center in Lycoming County. A year later, in 2017, UPMC acquired seven more hospitals in the central part of the state as Geisinger took over the 25-bed Jersey Shore Hospital 20 miles from Williamsport.
Also in 2017, Highmark took a 20% ownership stake in Hershey-based Penn State Health, a Dauphin County system that operates five hospitals and other medical facilities. The Penn State-Highmark agreement included a commitment to spend $1 billion for new hospitals and outpatient clinics in the south-central part of the state.
In 2019, Highmark formed a joint venture with Geisinger to build and improve medical facilities in north-central Pennsylvania. An urgent care center, primary care offices and imaging services were part of a two-story facility in Lock Haven in Clinton County that opened in 2021, and a three-story, 120,000-square-foot Muncy Township facility in Lycoming County opened in 2022, offering emergency medical care, surgical suites and primary and specialty care areas; both facilities are owned by Geisinger.
“We entered this joint venture because we are committed to expanding access to care in the communities we serve,” Kate Musler, then Highmark Health Plan COO, said in a prepared statement at the end of the five-year partnership. “We are pleased to say that the joint venture achieved that goal in north-central Pennsylvania and we thank Geisinger for their collaboration throughout the last five years.”
