Ridgeview is building space for orthopedic patients who need an overnight stay at its Two Twelve Medical Center facility, a building in Chaska that hasn't previously provided inpatient care.
The Waconia-based health system is building the new orthopedic institute in conjunction with Twin Cities Orthopedics (TCO), a large private practice.
The two groups already partner on same-day orthopedic cases at the Chaska center, which operates as a campus under the hospital license of Ridgeview Medical Center in Waconia.
Most orthopedic cases, including knee and hip replacements, at the Waconia campus will move to the new institute.
"Once the average health care consumer learns about the orthopedic institute — what it is, what it means — we believe people will seek it out," said Aaron Johnson, chief executive at Twin Cities Orthopedics. "We believe that we will see a net increase [in patients] for both parties, both TCO and Ridgeview."
Financial terms were not disclosed.
To create space for the venture, Ridgeview is adding a new fifth floor to its Chaska facility for 20 hospital beds plus six more operating rooms. Renovations also are occurring on the fourth floor. The institute is scheduled to open in October 2023.
The development, which was announced in June, comes about two years after lawmakers said Ridgeview Medical Center could switch the designation for 20 of its licensed hospital beds from rehabilitation to medical/surgical.
Two Twelve Medical Center "currently operates a number of hospital-based operations including ER, ambulance services, endoscopy suites, pharmacy ... everything you need to run a hospital is there," said Michael Phelps, the president and chief executive at Ridgeview. "We're simply adding beds that we have under our license to that campus."
Beyond the Waconia hospital and its Chaska campus, Ridgeview has hospitals in Arlington and Le Sueur. The health system, which employs about 2,300 people, also operates 13 primary care and multispecialty clinics.
"During the course of the pandemic when the metro hospitals were full, Ridgeview … had to take care of folks that were a higher acuity than we were previously accustomed to," Phelps said. "But we learned that we can do that work and do it effectively and care for the community.
"So, we've been investing in a number of things at our Waconia campus to allow us to be able to do that. What's that done is, it's created a need to use our beds differently on all of our hospital campuses."
