Published: Synapse 2015 Vol. 2
With the new Penn Medicine Southern Chester County medical destination open for business, local residents not only have more primary care and a full range of outpatient services closer to home, but now also have ready access to the top specialists
of one of the nation's premier health systems.
"The intent is to have a set of services that make it possible for you to receive care from Penn Medicine but have it very close to you," Ralph W. Muller, chief executive officer of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, said at the June 2 ribbon-cutting.
Immediately available at the new facility, anchored by Chester County Hospital, are physician-based services in primary care and ophthalmology, as well as an array of medical services, including radiology (MRI, CT, 3D Mammography, X-ray, ultrasound, and Bone Density), laboratory, physical therapy, obstetrics and gynecology. Other specialties expected to be in place this fall include orthopedics, cardiology, otolaryngology (head and neck), gastroenterology, and pediatrics courtesy of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). In the near future, a full-service outpatient surgical center is expected to open on the second floor. The 72,000-squarefoot center, easily accessible at the intersection of Routes 1 and 796 in Penn Township, is the culmination of a five-year process initiated by Chester County Hospital. A market research survey of this fast-growing region showed an increasing need for more doctors -- at least two dozen -- and medical facilities.
That demand, and changes in the way Chester County Hospital was delivering services, laid the groundwork for Penn Medicine Southern Chester County.
"Medicine is moving to more outpatient, more community-based service," explained Michael J. Duncan, president and chief executive officer of Chester County Hospital. "Go back ten years and more than eighty percent of our service was in-patient. Now it's fifty-fifty, or in some areas of the county, even more out-patient. We believed that the better we can organize that are, including major subspecialties, and primary care, and testing, in a way that puts them in the major communities in our region, the better we can serve our communities."
The southern part of the county was a natural location for such an endeavor.
"You look at the historical patterns of patient change, and the highest percentage of growth was coming from southern Chester County," Duncan said. "It's a growing community, and more and more people were trekking up to the hospital. So it made sense to establish a multi-specialty group in Jennersville."
To turn the idea into a reality, Chester County Hospital partnered with Anchor Health Properties of Wilmington, DE, a full-service development company founded in 1985 that specializes in medical facilities, with projects from Maine to Florida and as far west as Indiana. Both developer and hospital were immediately on board with the vision: a spacious, people-friendly facility that would put patients at ease, as well as reflect its surroundings, looking like it belonged in the rolling hills of southern Chester County's horse country. Anchor Health was more than up for the challenge.
"We pride ourselves on not creating a medical office box," said Katie Jacoby, the senior vice president at Anchor Health who worked closely with Chester County Hospital administrators on everything from securing the property to design, construction, leasing, down to the artwork and furnishings.
Jacoby said Anchor Health spent time talking to people at the hospital and in the community, getting a feel for the culture to help determine the building materials to use, the services to be provided, and the design that would be most beneficial to patients and consumers.
"We wanted to make people coming to visit their doctor as comfortable as possible," Jacoby said. "They're not lost in a maze of hallways. Most services are right off the public corridor and they can usually see right back out to their car in the parking lot.
The feedback has already been overwhelmingly positive. "People are surprised by how beautiful it is," Duncan agreed. "It's very inviting and comforting. The architecture is particularly well done."
Penn Medicine Southern Chester County is set amid 45 acres of lush meadows and landscaping, with stonework and other materials that complement the surrounding countryside, thanks, in part, to the efforts of Array Architects and The Norwood Company, the construction manager. There's even a three-quarter-mile open walking trail for both patients and the community to enjoy.
"I'm really pleased with the site that we were able to secure for this project," Jacoby said. "There's great visibility, easy access offRoute 1, and ample free parking."
In early June, as community members gathered with local officials and representatives from Chester County Hospital and Penn Medicine, it was clear that the initial mission had been accomplished.
"The vision that was crafted in the board room of Chester County Hospital five years ago was to create a comfortable health-care destination of innovative and integrated services in a high-quality, efficient, patient-centered environment," Paula Crowley, chief executive officer and a founder of Anchor Health, said to the hundreds of people who gathered to celebrate the new facility. "I think you'd have to agree with me that we achieved this vision. It wasn't an accident. These kinds of projects don't just happen. They are really the result of a lot of creative, thoughtful people working collaboratively to make a project like this come about. And that means that you have to have really good partners, which we did on this project."
The collaboration among partners continued even after Chester County Hospital was acquired by Penn Medicine in 2013. Penn was very much in sync with the vision for the project.
"We already had a great relationship with Chester County Hospital," Jacoby said, "and when the merger occurred with Penn it was an easy, smooth transition. You could feel the energy and excitement from everyone involved, from the users of the space to the senior management. Everyone was really engaged and wanted to do what was best for the project and the community."
Duncan said Chester County Hospital couldn't have found a better partner than Penn: "It was our plan for Southern Chester County, but it is also completely consistent with the strategy for expanding care at Penn, which has similar sites in Valley Forge and Radnor. It's the same basic model, with all the services on site."
And Penn isn't alone in adapting to changing models of health-care economics, Duncan said. "All the time I spent in big urban hospitals, the old strategy was to link with suburban hospitals and have them send as many patients as possible into the mother ship downtown," said Duncan, who previously worked at medical centers in New York City and Philadelphia. "But the general trend today is to move care into communities. Patients have expectations of getting care close to home instead of driving to the city. And we can deliver care at a lower cost here in Chester County than can be delivered in town."
The benefits of the partnership reach far beyond the two hospitals.
"I had hoped that when we became part of Penn Medicine, their capabilities, resources and support would make ours greater in the community," Duncan said. "And they have delivered in every way."
All those resources and support add up to more opportunities to better serve patients, as communities in the southern part of the county are now learning with the new facility.
"Our real mission is to reduce the burden of disease from the community," Duncan said. "Not just through the diagnosis and the right treatment, but also the impact that disease has on patients and the families that support them. So, if we can add greater amounts of that care right in the community, it's going to be easier for patients to recover, and for their families to help them, too.
"I'm excited that we can take that level of care to the good people of Chester County."
By Francis T. Strong
Photos by Pam Hesler (events) and Jeffrey Totaro (architecture)