Finally, the stars
aligned. The same gen-
eral contractor who
built most of our clini-
cal offices was gutting
and reconstructing a
3-story office building
in an excellent loca-
tion. We eventually
leased 13,500 square
feet on the second
floor and began fram-
ing out what would
become the Virginia ENT Surgery Center. The facility opened in
December 2018 and continues to be the only dedicated ear, nose and
throat surgical facility in central Virginia. We're sharing what we
learned while designing and building our surgery center with the hope
that you find our insights useful as you break ground on an ENT facili-
ty of your own.
• Expert advice. The first thing we did when starting this project
was to partner with a healthcare architectural and design firm.
Building a successful surgery center demands working with profes-
sionals who fully understand federal, state and accreditation stan-
dards and requirements.
The firm brought in an engineering firm to manage the mechanical,
electrical and plumbing (MEP) design. Very early in the design phase
we also hired a nurse consultant to assist us with preparing for our
accreditation survey. When four of our physician board members vol-
unteered to participate in the design and construction of the center,
the design "dream team" was complete.
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 0 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 4 9
• CHILD CARE A kids waiting room distracts children from worrying about their
upcoming surgery and frees pre-op bays for more patients.
Virginia
ENT
Surgery
Center
