Work begins on UHS Comprehensive Orthopedic Center

VESTAL — Construction-site work on the planned $30 million UHS Comprehensive Orthopedic Center is underway at 4433 State Route 434 (the Vestal Parkway East) in Vestal.  

Crews started the demolition work on the site of the former Van Atta car dealership about five weeks ago, says Danielle Donlin, UHS program director for musculoskeletal services.

She spoke to CNYBJ on July 17.

UHS expects the 68,000-square-foot Comprehensive Orthopedic Center, which crews will build adjacent to UHS Vestal, to open in late 2016, the organization said in a news release issued June 24. 

Regional, technological, and industry trends are driving the need for such a facility in the area.

“Our region’s aging population, coupled with technologic[al] advancements and minimally invasive surgical techniques, results in a growing need for orthopedic and similar services in the Southern Tier,” Matthew Salanger, president and CEO of UHS, said in the release. 

Binghamton–based UHS, which is short for United Health Services, is the third largest health system in Central New York, according to the 2015 Book of Lists.

The New York State Department of Health found UHS’ evidence of public need for the new orthopedic center “compelling” and “quickly” approved its certificate of need, or application, necessary to launch the project, according to the release. 

“It’s a fairly large process. It probably had to do with the market and the growth of our current practices and how there’s no more room for expansion and it’s on-site,” says Donlin.

The Town of Vestal approved the project at its March planning-committee meeting.

About the center

The UHS Comprehensive Orthopedic Center will house UHS’ medical programs in orthopedics, podiatry, chiropractic, rheumatology, and physical therapy, according to the UHS news release. 

Each of those services will relocate from another UHS site to make the new location its home. 

UHS said it has designed the new facility to accommodate “significant” growth and to allow for the recruitment of additional health-care providers.

The new building will also house the Binghamton area’s largest sports-medicine practice, UHS said. It will feature areas for post-surgical strength conditioning and a concussion program specifically related to sports injuries.

The new orthopedic center will employ more than 125 people, including providers and staff, and will create at least 15 new jobs once it opens, UHS said. 

It expects the facility to record 125,000 outpatient visits per year.

UHS is designing and building the Comprehensive Orthopedic Center to “complement” its Vestal complex next door, creating an outpatient campus that hosts a number of UHS medical programs at one, “centralized” location, the organization said. 

Architecturally, the new building will be a “companion” to the UHS Vestal structure. Chianis + Anderson Architects, PLLC designed the Comprehensive Orthopedic Center, while LeChase Construction is the contractor on the project, says Donlin.

UHS is a locally owned, nonprofit, 916-bed hospital and health-care system serving Greater Binghamton and surrounding counties. 

Founded in 1981, UHS provides medical, surgical, rehabilitative, and long-term care services from more than 60 locations around New York’s Southern Tier.