Hospital a first for growing Buda

BUDA — Baylor Scott & White next month will unveil the first-ever full service hospital in the city of Buda, a Hays County suburb of Austin that has a shortage of health services amid its booming population growth.

The 70,000-square-foot facility, which will have a 24-hour emergency room and medical clinic, joins two other recently opened health facilities within a half-mile radius in Buda, including a St. David's free-standing emergency room off Interstate 35 near White Wing Trail that opened in January and Ascension Seton's health center that opened in June.

City officials say the facilities were desperately needed as Buda's population continues to rise.

This year, Hays County was ranked the second-fastest growing county in the country, its population increasing 42% between 2010 and 2018, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. Buda, in that same period, grew by 124%, more than doubling its population from 7,350 in 2010 to 16,449 last year, data show.

"Buda is seeing explosive growth as are many of the cities around Austin. Now we are almost 17,000," city spokesman David Marino said. "That’s a huge growth in a small amount of time. You have a lot of people who live here, and they don’t want to travel outside their community and get on I-35 and go to Austin to go to the hospital."

Because of the rapid growth, Hays County has been designated a health professional shortage area by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, meaning the primary care medical services available to low-income residents haven't kept pace with its exploding growth.

"There really was a void in the city," Marino said. ""It’s a great thing to have choices now and health options for our citizens."

Baylor Scott & White's state-of-the-art facility at 5330 Overpass Road is a glistening, three-story building designed to look less sterile than the traditional hospital, with toned-down colors and lots of natural light. It is adjacent to several planned communities, including the sprawling Sunfield neighborhoods.

City officials say its location is critical for new residents who are moving to the area and see themselves as independent of Austin, desiring medical care at their back door. Previously, the closest hospitals were St. David's South Austin Medical Center and Ascension Seton Hays in nearby Kyle.

"As with any growing community, this is a key component for young families as well as seniors that look for when they relocate their family or their business to Buda," Buda Economic Development Corp. board President Jennifer Storm said. "This is a huge benefit."

The Buda Economic Development Corp., which collects a portion of the city's sales tax to incentive businesses to come to the area, put $375,000 toward the $35 million hospital project, with the expectation it will bring 150 high-paying jobs — those that pay an average annual salary of $70,000 — to the area in its first four years.

In addition to a 24-hour emergency room, the hospital includes an intensive care unit, surgical suites, 15 patient rooms and access to diagnostic services and such specialties as cardiology, gastroenterology and orthopedics. All services are integrated, meaning patients don't have to fill out new paperwork as they move through the system of care.

"Our patients can get everything they need in a seamless fashion. We can reduce waste from an aspect of multiple tests and things of that nature because your record is connected between the clinic and the hospital, and then … we can really focus on that preventative wellness aspect of health that we are trying to push to as a nation," the hospital's director of operations, Drew Bennett, said. "We want to keep people well. We want to keep them out of the hospital. We want to integrate within the community as much as we can, rather than just be here for episodic things."

Buda Fire & EMS, which handles emergency calls in Buda, says it will be able to reduce response times and the time it takes to get people to the hospital because of the new facility. Currently, it takes 18 to 20 minutes to get people from Buda to a hospital in its two available ambulances, EMS Division Chief Samuel Shuleman said.

"We should be able to reduce that quite a lot," Shuleman said. "We are going to be able to keep ambulances closer and respond faster."

Buda Fire is bringing a third ambulance online next month. Shuleman said medics still will take pediatric patients to other hospitals, as well as those suffering from heart attacks and strokes, since the Baylor Scott & White facility doesn't have the credentials yet to accept those patients.

The three-story hospital is considered the first phase of the project, built with the idea that it can be expanded at any time. The facility sits on 26 acres that could easily fit additional hospital buildings and operations, Bennett said.

"Our fingers are crossed that it will continue to expand as we expand," Storm said.

The full hospital is set to open Sept. 28. The adjoining medical clinic, which sees walk-in patients from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., opened earlier this month. The facility is similar to one that opened last year in Pflugerville, which also offers integrated services, including an emergency room and medical clinic. Baylor Scott & White is planning to open a similar hospital along U.S. 290 Oak Hill in January.