Memorial Hermann’s new patient tower is expected to bring the number of beds in its I-10 Katy facility from 142 to 199 by the time construction is complete in December.[/caption]

Memorial Hermann continues to expand in the greater Katy area to meet growth needs. The hospital system opened a new convenient care center at 22430 Grand Corner Drive on June 1 and continues to advance a two-year construction project on a new tower for its hospital located at 23900 I-10.

The Memorial Hermann Convenient Care Center, located near the Grand Parkway and Westpark Tollway, will deliver emergent and primary care for Katy area residents. The $19.1 million building spans 30,000 square feet and provides primary care services, lab testing, imaging and emergency care to the southeast Katy community.

“Katy is expanding rapidly. We felt we needed to provide an outlet for the growing market,” said John Kueven, Memorial Hermann Katy Chief Operating Officer. “We wanted to build a single-stop convenient care center.”

Kueven said patients can walk down a hallway to schedule lab testing instead of being referred to another facility.

“There [are] studies out there that show people don’t want to drive more than 3 to 5 miles to have these services [performed],” Kueven said.

The convenient care center is also necessary to ease the burden on the surrounding Memorial Hermann facilities, said Dan Wolterman, Memorial Hermann Health System CEO.

“This [facility] will help take some load off our hospitals on either side of this building,” Wolterman said.

To further accommodate growth, the new patient tower being constructed at Memorial Hermann Katy Hospital will double the capacity of the main hospital to further respond to the growth of the community, Kueven said.

“We have more patients than we have beds,” he said.

Kueven said the hospital holds 142 beds. By the time the 320,000-square-foot tower is expected to open in December, the number will jump to 199 beds, he said. The tower will continue to add additional space until maximum capacity­­—310 beds—is reached.

As the hospital grows in size, so will its services, Kueven said, including the size of the emergency room and number of operating and maternity rooms.

“We’re expanding every single service we have,” he said.