Construction More Than Halfway Completed for UI Health Care North Liberty Campus
Iowans will have increased access to health care services provided by University of Iowa Health Care, the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, when its new North Liberty campus opens in 2025.
University of Iowa administrators and general construction contractor JE Dunn led members of the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, on an informal tour of the construction site today ahead of their scheduled meeting in Iowa City.
Located at the corner of Forevergreen Road and Highway 965 in North Liberty, the 60-acre campus features a hospital and medical office building with clinics and teaching and research facilities.
As the first planned extension of the UI Health Care academic health system to a new campus, there will be close coordination between the university’s medical campuses in North Liberty and Iowa City for staff and patients.
North Liberty is one part of a comprehensive solution to increased access to health care for Iowans
University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics has been operating at a high capacity on its main campus at 200 Hawkins Drive for many years.
The North Liberty campus is one part of a master plan to renovate and add spaces that will provide more access to the safe, high-quality care that Iowans need as the state’s population continues to age and has more complex care needs that a connected academic system can serve.
“We believe Iowans deserve leading-edge health care close to home, and so we are doing our part to increase access for all Iowans,” says Denise Jamieson, MD, MPH, vice president for medical affairs at the University of Iowa and the Tyrone D. Artz Dean of the Carver College of Medicine. “Once complete, the North Liberty campus will be a shining example of academic medicine at its best, advancing health care across the state and beyond. These state-of-the art facilities will allow us to achieve excellence in all parts of our mission: research, education, clinical care, and service to the community. It’s exciting to see the progress we have made, and we look forward to sharing the campus with our patients and their families, employees, community, and neighbors as we get closer to completion.”
‘A patient-centered, coordinated, comprehensive approach to musculoskeletal care’
In the opening phase of this campus, orthopedics and sports medicine will move the majority of their department's clinical, research, and educational programs to North Liberty. There is growing demand for orthopedic services, and the North Liberty location will provide an easy-to-access, drive-up location for patients with mobility challenges.
“It is our goal to create a patient-centered, coordinated, and comprehensive approach to musculoskeletal care, building on the university’s nationally recognized research, education, and clinical care in orthopedics excellence,” says J. Lawrence Marsh, MD, chair of the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation.
Patients will be offered full orthopedic, sports medicine, and rehabilitation services at UI Health Care's North Liberty campus—from the first clinic visit, to surgery and inpatient services, if needed, as well as the ability to get labs, imaging, durable medical equipment, and pharmaceuticals on-site.
Once orthopedics and sports medicine services move to North Liberty, their current space at the main campus of 200 Hawkins Drive in Iowa City will be used to expand other critical, complex care services, medical education, and research.
Convenient access to emergency and ancillary services
While patients will come from across the state and further afield for the university’s orthopedic and sports medicine care, those in the surrounding region will also benefit from services at the North Liberty campus.
In addition to more convenient access to emergency care, there will be a drive-thru pharmacy and the ability to get lab and imaging work done at this location, no matter if a follow-up appointment, surgery, or procedure is done by UI Health Care or another provider.
The construction project is on schedule with its next milestone of the completion of the exterior expected this winter.