The new Kaiser Permanente medical center that opened this week in Bowie, Maryland, kicks off a two-year expansion plan for the D.C. region for that will include a half-dozen state-of-the-art facilities.
“As we expand our footprint and we’re looking to add an additional six centers, some are going to be brand-new centers, some are replacement facilities,” said Gracelyn McDermott, the vice president of Marking, Sales and Business Development at Kaiser Permanente, Mid-Atlantic.
“Our members are going to be able to experience convenient care and receive that care in the way that they choose. And whether that’s in person at any one of our facilities, or virtually via telemedicine,” she said.
So how’s all this being paid for? Kaiser Permanente’s Mid-Atlantic region is part of a broader heath care institution that includes eight additional regions with headquarters in California.
“California, our mother ship, so to speak, has investments that they allocate to the regions that allow us to do this build, and … so in a sense, we’re borrowing some money from our parent company to help fund these facilities,” McDermott said.
A five-year plan just getting underway will determine what, how and where to bring additional health care services to the region. As for what people can expect now?
The Bowie Fairwood Medical Center that opened on Monday offers next-generation technology to more than 10,000 Kaiser Permanente members in Prince George’s County.
It has, for example, exam room chairs that can weigh patients when they sit and then recline into an exam table.
A new facility near the Friendship Heights Metro Station in Chevy Chase, Maryland, is set to open later this fall. It will include seven provider officers for primary care and telehealth.
In Lutherville-Timonium in Baltimore County, the 220,000-square-foot medical center set to open in January 2022 will replace the current Towson Medical Center. It will include a broad array of services including 24/7 advanced urgent care, pharmacy, laboratory and radiology.
In Woodbridge, Virginia, the new Caton Hill facility will be on Minnieville Road near the intersection of Interstate 95 and the Prince William County Parkway. It will have an ambulatory surgery center. It also will include a pharmacy, radiology services, 24/7 advanced urgent care, including a laboratory.
In Springfield, Virginia, a new facility has a projected opening date in mid-2022. It will replace Kaiser Permanente’s current facility with the same collection of comprehensive care services and will include a pharmacy.
The facility being built in Hyattsville, Maryland, is a replacement facility for Kaiser Permanente’s Prince George’s County Medical Center. It’s about two miles away from the current facility, is close to the West Hyattsville Metro Station, and hasn’t been named yet.
Watch a video of the Bowie Fairwood Medical center opening below.
