MountainView Hospital to expand ER, bed count as part of $90M project

As the northwest Las Vegas Valley grows, so do its needs. In response, MountainView Hospital, 3100 N. Tenaya Way, has announced a $90 million expansion that will increase its capacity in many areas, including its emergency room.

The changes will come in phases. By the end of September, MountainView expects to begin construction on an 80,000-square-foot, four-story medical office building. It will consist of medical office suites and a 225-seat auditorium. The building and parking lot will sit on 8.2 acres of the raw land at the south end of the hospital.

When the expansion is complete, MountainView will grow from a 340-bed hospital to 400 beds. Construction is expected to take 18 months.

The last time MountainView expanded was in 2013 when it added a south tower and increased the size of its ER.

Tobie Buccieri, a real estate agent who lives in Desert Shores, said she was happy to hear of the hospital increasing its capacity.

"I hope that with their expansion, they're also putting more employees in the ER so their response time to help more patients is more efficient," she said.

What was the motivating factor to jump on the expansion now?

"Since our 2013 expansion, we have continued to run at or near capacity, even with all the additional beds and an emergency department that is doubled in size," said Chris Mowan, MountainView Hospital CEO. "The community has responded to the quality care that we provide, and we are working to fulfill that continued need."

Construction will include the addition of a dedicated CT scanner for the emergency department, with the goal of helping to decrease wait times for emergency department patients in need of imaging. Also as part of the emergency department expansion, the helipad will be doubled in size to accommodate two helicopters.

The expansion includes the addition of 64 beds, expansion and renovation of the Women's Services unit, the addition of a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, expansion of emergency department services and the aforementioned medical office building.

The first phase of construction includes adding a fourth and fifth floor, with 32 private rooms per floor. Construction of a vertical expansion to the hospital's south tower is set to begin later this year.

"All construction is ambitious," Mowan said, "but MountainView and Las Vegas know how to construct a project well, on time and on budget. While the south tower was built with future plans for a vertical expansion, building up on an existing tower is always exciting."

Once the vertical expansion of the south tower is complete, MountainView plans to tackle the Women's Services unit, increasing the number of labor and delivery beds to 12 and increasing the number of post-partum beds to 32. With the expansion, MountainView will open a 24-bed Level III NICU to serve the community and its youngest patients.

Mowen said the hospital has seen "tremendous growth" in its Women's Services unit, as mothers-to-be are choosing MountainView for their delivery. He said expanding to a Level III NICU will allow the hospital to care for high-risk moms and babies.

In the Neuro unit, new construction will add a biplane imaging unit and increased neuro services. Biplane imaging can be used for coiling (treatment for aneurysm), carotid stenting, embolization, thrombolysis (the breakdown of blood clots), vertebroplasty (outpatient procedure for stabilizing compression fractures in the spine) and vasospasm (sudden constriction/narrowing of a blood vessel). Biplane imaging lets doctors follow the path of blood flow through the vessel, creating a "road map" for reaching and treating the precise location of disease or malformation.

Mowan said the hospital will try to minimize the impact on normal business as it grows. The construction to the new medical office building will have a separate construction access, so it shouldn't affect hospital functions.

"MountainView employees have been through several expansions," Mowan said. "...The tower expansion will be adding space, rather than impacting current space, so we expect any impact to be minimal."

Visit mountainview-hospital.com.

— To reach Summerlin Area View reporter Jan Hogan, email jhogan@viewnews.com or call 702-387-2949.