Penn State Health expects to file new hospital plan this fall

Health system officials on Thursday presented a sketch plan of the new Penn State Health Hampden Medical Center to the Hampden Township planning commission, hoping to give township residents and officials a preview of what is to come.

The health system said it is finalizing a design and expects the land development plan for the project will be submitted in October.

Penn State Health, the parent of Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, hopes to break ground in early 2019 on a tract of land off Good Hope and Wertzville roads near Interstate 81. The cost of the hospital remains an unknown.

The proposed Penn State hospital is not far from UPMC Pinnacle West Shore. And it would be the fourth hospital in fast-growing Cumberland County. Others are UPMC Pinnacle Carlisle and Geisinger Holy Spirit in East Pennsboro Township.

Penn State Health has been looking to build facilities in Cumberland County for a number of years, said Steve Massini, the organization’s CFO and COO. The organization has added practices on the West Shore, including Penn State Medical Group Mechanicsburg, a primary care clinic off I-81 in Silver Spring Township.

“Cumberland County is a growing and very important market,” Massini said. “We have a lot of patients in that area.”

The preliminary plan for the system’s new hospital calls for a 300,000-square-foot V-shaped building with a main entrance off Good Hope Road. The 43.5-acre tract is near Wentworth Estates, a luxury housing community.

In addition to 108 inpatient beds, the hospital will have an emergency department, physician offices, specialty inpatient services, imaging and lab services, and medical and surgical capabilities.

The sketch plan says the facility could have about 1,000 employees and more than 1,100 parking spaces. It also shows a helicopter landing pad and emergency entrance on the side of the hospital that faces I-81.

A proposed walking trail would wind around the perimeter of the site.