Avista plans health center in Westminster

LOUISVILLE – A 46,000-square-foot health center affiliated with Avista Adventist Hospital is slated to open on Oct. 1 near Church Ranch Boulevard in Westminster.

Centura Health – the parent company of Louisville-based Avista – bought the building at 7233 Church Ranch Blvd. for $4.25 million in January.

The new health center is expected to operate similarly to a hospital, said Robert Stansel, an Avista spokesman. It will include cardiac, family medicine, neurosurgery and women’s services departments, Stansel said.

Avista plans to remodel the inside of the building, which was formerly a call center. Stansel declined to discuss possible costs for the remodeling project. In all, Centura has set aside $340 million to open 12 health centers in the future, Stansel said.

Stansel said Avista is opening the health center to keep up with the growing health demands of baby boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964.

The new center fits in with Avista’s plans to offer “wellness” concepts to fit in with changes in the health-care industry related to the Affordable Care Act, Stansel said. For example, many insurance companies want patients to get colonoscopies and other medical tests done at facilities other than hospitals because of potential cost savings, Stansel said.

Employee numbers and other details of the new center have not been announced.

The new health center is close to St. Anthony’s North Medical Pavilion in Westminster, which also is affiliated with the Centura Health network. Centura Health is building a 350,000-square-foot expansion at the hospital, which is located at 2551 W. 84th Ave. near the southwest corner of Interstate 25 and 144th Avenue. Centura officials said a year ago that it planned to spend $177 million on the hospital expansion.

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