The Houston County Health Care Authority has approved a $50 million expansion at Southeast Health Medical Center. The center has seen an 8% increase in patient volume this year, with the facility expecting to serve approximately 58,000 patients.
Southeast Health, in Dothan, also is the region’s only Level II Trauma Center and Chest Pain Center and one of three Comprehensive Stroke Centers in the state.
“This board is committed to meeting the growing healthcare needs of our region. Given the current increase in patient volume and future projections, expanding the Emergency Department and our inpatient bed capacity is critical,” said Chester Sowell, chairman of the Houston County Health Care Authority.
The expansion will take place in four stages and is expected to cost $25 million. Those phases include adding 21,300 square feet to the Emergency Department and renovating the existing 16,700 square feet; increasing treatment spaces from 32 to 66 to accommodate more patients; relocating the Southeast Medicine Shop to the lobby; adding a CT scanner and a satellite laboratory; incorporating a safe treatment area for behavioral health patients and expanding the waiting area.
The project also will add two patient floors above the Emergency Department at an investment of more than $24.5 million. The proposed design will add 52 new inpatient hospital beds.
“For the past several months, the clinical leadership in the Emergency Department, the design team and specialized health care architects have been working together on this concept,” said Sowell. “They incorporated design features and patient flow operational models that will increase capacity, reduce wait times and diversion hours and continue to meet the needs of increasingly complex patients.”
Southeast Health will submit a Certificate of Need application to the state health care review board. Once the CON is approved, construction is expected to begin and completion of the project is expected in Fall 2027.
