Baylor Scott & White opens 1st Austin hospital

Baylor Scott & White on Wednesday opened its first ever hospital in Austin, with a 24-hour emergency room and surgery center located in the Oak Hill neighborhood.

The $80 million facility, which sits on 14acres along U.S. 290 near MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) in Southwest Austin, offers acute and intensive care services, advanced imaging and has an operating room and endoscopy suite.

It is the eighth hospital the nonprofit health system Baylor Scott & White has opened in the Austin area. Other facilities are located in Buda, Cedar Park, Lakeway, Pflugerville, Round Rock and Taylor. This is the first within the Austin city limits.

“This area is growing exponentially,” said Jessie Everline, director of operations for the hospital. “We have several other clinics in Austin, but as we have grown and seen the growth in this area, we knew it was time for us to include a full-service hospital.”

It’s unclear how many patients the new hospital will serve. The four-story building is decorated with photos of the Austin skyline and of hot spots around town. It has a cafe, chapel and inviting waiting areas for families, with floor-to-ceiling windows and soft blue hues.

The third floor includes 25 patient rooms, which nurses can monitor remotely with mobile devices. A telemedicine “robot” moves through the facility, offering video conferencing with doctors from different specialties that might not be available at the hospital.

Everline said the Austin facility will specialize in breast care services, a response to the needs of the surrounding community. Patients will have access to diagnostic tests and routine mammography, as well as a highly trained breast surgeon and radiologist.

Baylor Scott & White employs a fully integrated care model with its hospitals, which means that each has an adjacent clinic with primary and specialty care doctors, enabling patients to move from one facility to another seamlessly, along with all their records.

“It’s really about convenience,” Everline said. “We believe the closer you have those services to home, the more tightly those things are integrated, the better outcomes ultimately you will receive from a patient and from a wellness and health perspective.”

The adjacent clinic, which has been open since October, is not an urgent care facility. It is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday by appointment only and has doctors representing 17 specialties, including cardiology, dermatology, neurology, gynecology and orthopedics, as well as prenatal care, pain management and physical therapy.

Currently, the hospital’s fourth floor is empty, as well as portions of the clinic, leaving plenty of room for the facility to expand in the future.

“As we continue to grow, we’ll add more services,” Everline said. "We are very thoughtful that we grow with the community. We don't add services just because we think it’s a good idea. We look at the needs. We focus on those needs, and we try to meet those needs. As those needs grow, we’ll grow with them.”