By Tracey Drury – Senior Reporter, Buffalo Business First
Aug 13, 2024
Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital is preparing for changes at and near its Maple Road campus in Amherst.
That includes expanded services, a new focus for a building in the rear of the campus and changes at an outpatient surgery center nearby.
The plans come as the 265-bed hospital celebrates its 50th year in operation as the region’s largest suburban hospital with 16% market share, the second highest in Erie County, according to state Department of Health reports.
“We’re really trying to retool to ensure that we are well-positioned as the whole health care market changes to more outpatient, ambulatory services, as well as enhancing the level of services we provide here,” said Judy Baumgartner, president.
First up: Parent company Kaleida Health will spend $10 million to create an ambulatory women’s health hub at the women’s services building behind the main hospital, complementing a growing mother-baby service line.
Since 2016, the hospital has spent nearly $18 million on those services, including building the 10-bed neonatal intensive care unit, which opened in 2016, and expanding the 28-room mother-baby unit on the fourth floor.
The hub project, expected to continue into 2025, will bring several women-focused physician practices in-house, including OB-GYNs, maternal fetal medicine and shared services like blood draw and ultrasound. The new hub will complement existing hospital services like mammography and bone density screenings.
“It will be great for the women in the community to be able to go there, and great for the practices who can get a lot of support from each other,” Baumgartner said. “It’ll all be consolidated.”
Millard Suburban has also become a draw for patients from across Niagara County and even the Medina area, whose only option for deliveries is Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center.
The hospital this year received its primary stroke center certification; while completing its 20,000th robotic-assisted surgery case, with 2,500 cases completed each year.
That’s part of the 22,000 surgeries and procedures performed overall – making Millard Suburban the busiest center across the Kaleida system, she said.
“Even with all those ambulatory surgery centers, there’s still demand,” Baumgartner said.
That’s what’s prompting the shift later this year at the Klein Road surgery center to GI and urology procedures from a more general offering.
Much of the outpatient GI work happening now at Millard Suburban will transition to Klein Road, providing capacity at the hospital to expand overall operating room surgeries.
Millard Suburban has grown its inpatient and outpatient volume, as well as the emergency department, which has led to a $1 million expansion this year to address volume and reduce wait times.
“Our emergency department has really grown in patient volume, particularly over the past 18 months or so since the changes in Niagara County,” she said, pointing to the closure of Eastern Niagara Hospital.
Though that volume has slowed since Catholic Health opened the new Lockport Memorial Hospital last fall, 2024 has seen volume continue to grow by 5%.