Contact: Will Sansom
Phone: (210) 567-2579
E-mail: Sansom@uthscsa.edu

(L-R) Robert Black, president of the fourth-year medical student class; Dr. Carlos Jaén, chair of the department of family and community medicine; Dr. Francisco G. Cigarroa, president of the Health Science Center; Dr. William Henrich, dean of the School of Medicine and vice president for medical affairs; and Lauren Swords, presidential ambassador and fourth-year medical student, break ground for the Health Science Center’s first ambulatory center.
Printer Friendly Format

San Antonio (Oct. 31, 2006) – The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio broke ground Oct. 24 on a $95 million, 250,000-square-foot ambulatory center that will complement existing health care in the South Texas Medical Center and move San Antonio to a new level of academic medicine and education.

“Today’s event is about providing superior care to patients in San Antonio and South Texas, and excellent training for tomorrow’s health care providers,” said Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D., president of the Health Science Center. “This new initiative will say ‘first-class medicine’ in every aspect.”

The ambulatory center will be the practice site of U.T. Medicine San Antonio, which consists of Health Science Center physicians and is the largest multi-specialty practice group in South Texas. Plans are to consolidate current U.T. Medicine San Antonio clinic operations from several locations, including the 44,200-square-foot Diagnostic Pavilion on Medical Drive and 30,000 square feet of leased space around the city. Having all specialties under one roof promises to benefit patients and increase efficiency of care, education and research.

An estimated 200 to 300 people will work in the new facility, which is projected to open in spring 2009 at the corner of Charles Katz and Floyd Curl drives. U.T. Medicine San Antonio registers 121,000 patient visits per year, and given annual rates of city and regional growth, this figure could increase 20 percent by the time the building is open and clinics are consolidated.

President Cigarroa thanked the San Antonio Medical Foundation Board of Trustees, who this month transferred 13.37 acres valued at $4.65 million to the Health Science Center. “The San Antonio Medical Foundation, represented by Board Chair Blair Labatt Jr. and President Jim Reed, has again demonstrated the generosity that led to the establishment of the Health Science Center decades ago,” Dr. Cigarroa said.

He also noted that the University Health System is a key partner in clinical care and medical student education.

Dr. Cigarroa poses with Drs. Henrich and Jaén, and the chairs of each School of Medicine department.

William L. Henrich, M.D., M.A.C.P., dean of the School of Medicine and vice president for medical affairs, said that as medicine moves toward ambulatory care, outpatient surgery and out-of-hospital services, it is important to ensure that Health Science Center medical students receive experience in this type of setting. “That is the world in which they will practice,” he said.

As U.T. Medicine San Antonio replaces the Diagnostic Pavilion and leased spaces with the new facility, it will revamp its telephone system and other services in ways patients won’t be aware of but that will increase the efficiency of their experience many fold, Dr. Henrich said.

The building will house 11 clinic areas, a 13,000-square-foot diagnostic imaging center, and a 30,000-square-foot ambulatory surgery center consisting of four endoscopic suites, six operating rooms, and supporting spaces such as presurgical preparation and recovery areas. The building also will contain a pre-admission testing area, faculty offices and two eating areas. A multi-story, 850-car parking garage will be adjacent to the facility.

U.T. Medicine San Antonio could see a jump of 50 in its workforce as it adds the ambulatory surgery center and enlarges some clinics.

FKP Architects Inc. designed the building, and Bartlett Cocke General Contractors will oversee construction.