Colorado Community Media | UCHealth Highlands Ranch hospital looks to the next year
As everyone begins to look to the new year, Highlands Ranch residents can expect to see the construction from the past couple of years of the UCHealth Highlands Ranch hospital come to life. The six-story hospital first opened in June 2019 as Highlands Ranch’s first full-service hospital. However, within three years of operating, Merle Taylor, UCHealth Highlands Ranch Hospital president, said that the hospital exceeded its projected expectations for a 10-year plan. As a result, in 2023, the hospital announced it would be expanding its services with the addition of two new buildings. “The reason we’re doing this is because we’re growing really fast,” Taylor said. “Physicians want to be here, patients want to be here.” In addition to a tower on the east side of the hospital, the expansion plans included dedicating the top floor of the existing building to shelled space for additional beds and operating rooms. Taylor added that while the hospital originally built shell space so that it could grow, however, they are currently building out some of that space because the occupancy for beds is high and the hospital is constantly operating at capacity.