BENSALEM, PA-Perhaps the name of a future $120-million healthcare development in Bucks County, PA—Lifestyle Healthcare Center—explains the goal. The developer, Newtown, PA-based Lifestyle Healthcare Group, says it has a goal of changing the way people in the area northeast of Philadelphia receive medical services.
It also sounds as if the company is setting up a mini health system at the complex, recruiting affiliated physicians and group practices and providing central appointment-making, central billing, electronic medical records and comprehensive healthcare services in a hospital-without-beds setting. According to Lifestyle Healthcare Group officials, the future 200,000-square-foot outpatient campus under construction on an 11-acre site near the Neshaminy Mall in Bensalem will try to provide everything patients need in one location.
So far, services and specialties lined up include a women’s center, orthopedics, general surgery, ophthalmology, cancer treatment, plastic surgery and several other medical services, including primary care. A surgery center will have eight operating suites, with an adjacent nursing facility for surgery patients who need to recover on site. Plans also call for the complex to feature in-house labs and a separate sports complex for training and rehabilitation.
“We are truly revolutionizing healthcare in the greater Philadelphia area with the Lifestyle Comprehensive Healthcare Center,” said Fred Rappaport, CEO and chairman of Lifestyle Healthcare Group, in a statement. “We have successfully developed a healthcare model that allows primary care physicians to easily interact with specialists who can deliver a superior level of care at one convenient location.” According to the company, the center is scheduled to open in 2015.
Rappaport refers to the project as a “field of dreams,” saying he knew it would not come to fruition unless the company could receive commitments from enough doctors and practices. As of recent weeks, it had received signed agreements from more than 100 physicians, well on its way, officials have said, to meeting a goal of bringing in anywhere from 300 and 400 doctors.
As more and more doctors and practices commit, the scope and variety of services offered will most likely evolve and expand, officials say. Rappaport believes the outpatient healthcare campus will be able to address two key goals of the country’s overall healthcare system—cost savings and patient satisfaction—by providing medical treatment in a less costly and more convenient setting. “Hospitals are fighting to fill beds now and really most of these procedures can be done in outpatient centers.”
The center’s labs will be equipped with what company officials call the latest in medical technologies and equipment for performing tests and procedures.
In order to provide cancer treatments, Lifestyle Healthcare Group has signed a letter of intent with Palo Alto, CA-based Varian Medical Systems, which will use its TrueBeam radiotherapy system at the site. TrueBeam is designed to address more complex cancer cases of the head, neck, liver, lungs and prostate.
Havertown, PA-based GS Architects Inc. designed the facility; Philadelphia-based P. Agnes is managing construction.