Canonsburg Hospital to be replaced with new facility, AHN says

A new all-private-room facility will replace Canonsburg Hospital, Allegheny Health Network (AHN) and Highmark Health announced Wednesday.

The 300,000-square-foot hospital, expected to open in 2027, will be built on AHN Canonsburg’s existing Medical Boulevard campus in North Strabane.

Construction of the full-service hospital, which will have 50 to 100 beds, is expected to begin in 2024. The campus will be developed for future planned facilities, including a medical office building and a potential future cancer center.

“It’s a win, win for us. It’s a win, win for patients. A win, win for the economy,” AHN Canonsburg President Dr. Chong Park said. “It’s about time. Being president of this hospital, we have a lot of issues with infrastructure being old. This is huge. This is huge for us.”

The total investment is approximately $232 million, according to a news release.

“The population served by our Canonsburg Hospital has grown over the years and we are excited to create a beautiful, modern facility and clinical campus that will enable us to better meet the diverse healthcare needs of the community and advance our living health model,” said Jim Benedict, president of Allegheny Health Network, in the release. “Our goal is to provide enhanced access to a much broader array of integrated, high-quality, comprehensive clinical programs that will enable more patients to stay close to home for the services they need.”

The hospital was established in 1904 and has operated at the current location since 1983.

“The building itself is getting kind of long in the tooth, if you will. We’re unable to improve the building itself to accommodate new technologies which are getting bigger,” Dr. Park said.

AHN said that the communities around Canonsburg have experienced more growth than Washington County, with continued population gains expected in the coming decade.

The new hospital is expected to create hundreds of additional healthcare jobs as well as hundreds of construction jobs, AHN said. Currently, there are about 400 employees at AHN Canonsburg, all of whom will be tracked to the same roles at the new facility.

“We can put it on a remote mountain top somewhere and make it look pretty but we’re not helping anybody. This way we’re taking care of our community. You can see the new development across the street. This is who we take care of and where we want to be,” Dr. Park said.

AHN officials are expected to begin discussions with local leaders to seek approvals for the construction plans in the coming days and weeks, according to the press release.

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