LVHN Plans Lower Macungie Hospital to Boost Access to Quality Care

Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) broke ground today for a new hospital in Lower Macungie Township, at the border with Macungie Borough, to help meet increasing demand for accessible, convenient ER and inpatient care.

Lehigh Valley Hospital (LVH)–Macungie is expected to open by the end of 2023.

The new hospital is planned for a new health care campus at the former Weis Market site at 3369 Route 100. A medical office building – the Health Center at Macungie – also will be part of the project. The new hospital is a type of facility informally known in the health care industry as a neighborhood hospital, with a full-service ER and a limited number of inpatient beds. The footprint, at about 20,000 square feet, is smaller than other LVHN hospitals in the region such as LVH–Cedar Crest, LVH–Muhlenberg and LVH–Hecktown Oaks.

The hospital will be a licensed and accredited acute care hospital, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, housed in a state-of-the-art facility. Patients requiring surgery or higher levels of care will be stabilized and transferred to other, larger LVHN hospitals as needed.

Other in-house hospital services will include lab, imaging and pharmacy. Imaging services, including X-ray, ultrasound, CT scan and MRI, also will be offered on an outpatient basis.

The Health Center at Macungie, at about 30,000 square feet, will house a variety of medical services, including HNL Lab Medicine, Lehigh Valley Physician Group (LVPG) family medicine, orthopedics, cardiology and pediatrics practices. In addition, the health center will offer outpatient adult rehabilitation and cardiac and vascular diagnostic testing.

“As the region’s leading health care partner, we’re committed to making exceptional health care, including emergency care, more convenient and accessible across-the-board,” said Brian A. Nester, DO, MBA, President and Chief Executive Officer, LVHN. “This hospital will provide closer access to emergency and inpatient care for residents where they live and work, when and where they need it. It strengthens the entire health network for the benefit of our communities and their residents.”

David Burmeister, DO, Chair, Department of Emergency and Hospital Medicine, LVHN, said the neighborhood hospital model will deliver short ER wait times and favorable door-to-discharge times. “Patients will receive the same high-quality, compassionate care and exceptional patient experience that have made LVHN the gold standard in the region,” he said.

“LVH–Macungie fills a need by creating a health care option not currently available in this region,” said John Pierro, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, LVHN. “This facility offers more capability than an ExpressCARE, with experience and expertise to treat the same cases that would traditionally be treated and released at a larger hospital, such as Lehigh Valley Hospital–Cedar Crest.”

LVHN is planning several other similar hospitals in the region, and announcements on groundbreaking events for those facilities will occur over the coming months as necessary approvals are secured.