Utah Valley Hospital’s current patient tower was built in 1975 and, along with several other buildings on our campus, is extremely worn, outdated and must be replaced. Forty years of all-day, every day use represents a long and strenuous life for a healthcare facility. 

The fact that we’ve managed so long to provide high quality and cost-efficient care in an antiquated environment is a testament to all who work at Utah Valley Hospital. 

Renovation vs. Replacement

While renovation of the tower and other old buildings was a consideration, it would have required seismic retrofitting of existing facilities based on engineering studies and new earthquake building codes at a cost that far exceeds new construction costs.

Hence, the decision was made to replace the aging facilities and create a more contemporary campus for a lesser but still very substantial investment of $430 million, the largest capital investment ever made to healthcare in Utah Valley. There are multiple reasons for our replacement project. Most importantly, infrastructure design is dramatically different than it was 40 years ago.

The vision for our new campus focuses solely on benefits and values for our patients and their families, with an emphasis on achieving the best possible clinical outcomes in a healing environment at the lowest appropriate cost. They include:

• Providing new, life-saving technologies in a modern healthcare design.
• Accommodating the needs of a growing and aging population.
• Expanding and modernizing a spectrum of patient service areas.
• Maximizing patient safety and comfort.
• Improving adjacencies of clinical services for the convenience and safety of our patients.
• Enhancing recruitment and retention of physicians and staff.
• Increasing efficiency and incorporating environmentally friendly design, systems and materials to reduce operating costs.
• Patient, family and employee safety achieved by modern, seismically sound construction.

The new 600,000-square-foot Patient Tower will be 25 percent larger than what we have today and will provide the most contemporary healthcare setting in the region.

New Patient Rooms

The patient room is where the delivery of care is undergoing more change than at any other time in history. Advancing technology, infection control, patient and family experience, and caregiver efficiency are vital concerns in the new patient room, and Utah Valley Hospital is taking steps to overhaul its design to allow for the best outcomes possible. The 236 new patient rooms will be substantially enhanced.

• 36 beds per unit allow for maximum flexibility that will accommodate a greater variety of healthcare needs into the future.
• Much larger single-patient rooms to accommodate advanced equipment, improve healing, and provide a comfortable environment for families, nurses and caregivers.
• Emphasis on bright, therapeutic and pleasant surroundings enhanced by natural light and views.

Surgical Department

The new patient tower will consolidate surgical and radiology services along with featuring a series of enhancements. The consolidation means operating rooms, cardiac catheterization and electrophysiology labs, interventional radiology suites, and GI labs will be proximally located in one common area. The size of the new surgical service will double to 100,000 square feet, and the number of operating rooms will increase from 14 to 19.

Emergency Services

Utah Valley Hospital’s Emergency Department is the busiest in the area with nearly 50,000 visits annually. Also, it proudly stands as Utah County’s only Emergency Department with 24/7 coverage of all major medical specialties, including neurosurgical, orthopedic, plastic and general surgery, qualifying it as a Level II trauma center.

In the upcoming hospital replacement project, the Emergency Department will expand from 23,000 to 30,000-square-feet and move from 28 to 38 exam rooms, including four dedicated trauma rooms. The Emergency Department will represent the most contemporary setting in emergency services, leading to improved patient outcomes. Based on projections through 2020, the new Emergency Department is designed to accommodate the demands of future population growth.

Features include:

• Ample space for upgraded technology and equipment.
• More private space for patients and families.
• Better, faster access to critically needed care.
• More efficient, spacious work areas for physicians and staff.

In addition to the new Patient Tower, the hospital replacement project will include a new Multi-Specialty Outpatient Center. This facility will serve several critical healthcare needs, including the consolidation of regionally recognized cancer services, the establishment of a Simulation Learning Center and the creation of a LiVe Well Center.

Cancer Center

One of the key benefits of our replacement project is the consolidation of radiation and medical oncology services together into a 21,000-square-foot space, furthering a holistic and coordinated multi-disciplinary approach to cancer care that fosters the best clinical outcomes and promotes patient satisfaction. The improved Cancer Center will include:

• A high dose rate brachytherapy room.
• New technology including a linear accelerator (LINAC) with a new vault for radiation oncology.
• The addition of a simulation lab to better isolate cancer lesions for direct radiation targeting.
• Great care, close to home.
• Less movement for patients, allowing them to remain in the same treatment area.

LiVe Well Center

Intermountain Healthcare is committed to helping people live the healthiest lives possible. To that end, a new LiVe Well Center will be developed in a dedicated portion of Utah Valley Hospital’s new Multi-Specialty Outpatient Center providing easy access for both staff and the community. It will offer metabolic testing and screening, nutrition, exercise and life coaching instruction and courses. The LiVe Well focus will be just as visible and viable outside the walls of the new center as plans will also integrate walking and biking trails around and through the hospital campus. Finally, the LiVe Well Center will integrate cardiac and pulmonary rehab services into one multifunctional space.

Simulation Learning Center

The Simulation Learning Center is innovation in the highest form — an education program that will provide a sophisticated virtual learning platform for doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals to prepare them to respond effectively to the full spectrum of birth to end-of-life care protocols. The Learning Center will replicate a hospital setting and provide a location where a myriad of medical procedure scenarios can be simulated.