LVHN completes steel construction for new Montgomery County hospital, office building

Aug 08, 2023

Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) has placed the final beams completing the steel construction for a new hospital and medical office building in Douglass Township, Montgomery County.

Construction workers placed the final beams during a ceremony Tuesday, including one beam signed by Brian A. Nester, LVHN’s president and CEO, and others that attended the event.

Lehigh Valley Hospital–Gilbertsville, the health network’s first in Montgomery County, is expected to open by fall 2024. A medical office building on the same site — the Health Center at Gilbertsville — is expected to open at the same time.

The new facility, at Route 100 and Grosser Road, will help meet increasing demand for accessible, convenient ER and inpatient care, according to a press release announcing the installation of the final beams.

“LVH–Gilbertsville and the Health Center at Gilbertsville will give residents more convenient access to emergency and hospital-level care, along with robust ambulatory services located closer to where they live, work and play,” Nestor said in a statement. “Easy access can improve patient engagement and help individuals live their healthiest life.”

The 22,000-square-foot neighborhood hospital will feature a full-service ER and a limited number of inpatient beds. While its footprint is smaller than other LVHN hospitals in the region, it will be a “fully licensed hospital offering accredited acute care — 24 hours a day, seven days a week — in a state-of-the-art facility,” the release stated.

The new hospital will also have lab, imaging and pharmacy services. All of the lab and imaging services, including X-ray, ultrasound, CT scan and MRI will also be available for any patient requiring these services as an outpatient.

The 57,000-square-foot Health Center at Gilbertsville will include a variety of medical services, including Lehigh Valley Physician Group primary care and pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, orthopedics, rheumatology, physiatry, cardiology, cardiac and nuclear testing, breast health services, adult and pediatric rehabilitation and cardiac rehabilitation. HNL Lab Medicine also will be on-site.

The hospital and health center are LVHN’s second and third facilities in Montgomery County — its Health Center at Pennsburg opened in March 2022.

According to David Burmeister, DO, chairman, Department of Emergency and Hospital Medicine for LVHN, the neighborhood hospital model will deliver short ER wait times and favorable door-to-discharge times.

“Patients will receive the same high-quality, compassionate care and exceptional patient experience that have made LVHN the gold standard in the region,” he said in a statement.

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