When Inspira Health moved its hospital from Woodbury to Mullica Hill in the fall of 2019, it knew it had a big, glorious facility that could comfortably serve the community.
It soon will be getting even bigger – and even more glorious.
On Monday, the system will break ground on a $240 million expansion that includes a new 150,000-square-foot 5-story wing that will extend out toward Rt. 55, an overbuild to the right of the hospital’s main entrance, the renovation of various clinical and non-clinical spaces on the first floor.
The expansion will enable Inspira to advance and grow services at Mullica Hill in a number of areas, including intensive care, medical/surgical, maternal child health, observation, MRI and CT imaging and interventional radiology.
It also will help the system’s graduate medical education, including a simulation lab for hospital residents. Inspira has approximately 16 nationally accredited specialties and more than 280 residents.
Inspira CEO Amy Mansue told ROI-NJ the need for more space has become apparent since the pandemic. Simply put, she said, the surge in patients did not slow down as expected – neither did the expected push to keep people out of hospitals.
“When we moved from Woodbury to Mullica Hill in 2019, I don’t think any of us could have imagined that we’d be out of space so soon,” she said. “But we’re out of space.
“We built a building that had 220 licensed beds with the anticipation that it was going to run like the previous facility in Woodbury, with a need for 110 or 120 beds. COVID hit and we were at 190. When COVID was over, we figured we’d go back down. Now, on any given day, we’re running almost at 100% occupied.”
The project will come in stages.
The first phase of construction will include the new wing, the overbuild that will expand maternity services and an expansion of the parking lot. Renovation of the existing space will begin in the Fall of 2026. The new wing and overbuild are expected to be open for patients in the first quarter of 2027. Several areas of the new construction will be shelled out for future expansion projects.
In addition to improving care, the expansion figures to have significant economic impact in the area. The project is expected to create more than 500 construction jobs – and more than 100 new permanent positions upon completion.
