It’s official — Indiana University Health Saxony Hospital is now IU Health Fishers.
The name change is part of IU Health’s ongoing Fishers Community Impact Project, aimed at enhancing healthcare access and services in one of the fastest-growing parts of the state — Fishers and the northeast suburbs.
The sweeping project remains on track for completion around Halloween, including an expansion of the Fishers hospital campus and services, as well as the addition of new, off-site outpatient access to primary care and specialists.
“Fishers is now the fourth-largest city in Indiana, and the population continues to grow rapidly,” says Soula Banich, vice president and chief operations officer supporting IU Health Fishers. “When we began this work to expand services and access to better meet the needs of the increasing population, it became clear the hospital needed a name that better reflects this growth and the broader population we serve.”
The planned expansion includes stand-alone outpatient physician office developments in McCordsville and Fishers. When complete this fall, the project will grow the square footage of the Fishers hospital campus by nearly 50%, adding:
- 50 inpatient beds, bringing the total to 88.
- Riley Children’s Health emergency medicine services, including a dedicated pediatric emergency unit to be built adjacent to the existing emergency department.
- New and expanded services in obstetrics and gynecology; ear, nose and throat; nephrology; neurology; and pulmonology.
- Growth of existing specialty programs in cardiovascular, gastroenterology, general medicine, general surgery, orthopedics, primary care (pediatric and adult), and urology.
- Expansion of support services space to accommodate additional staff and higher patient volumes.
The $300 million project began in 2018 with conversations involving planning and design, but it would be another four years before breaking ground.
“Our intentions were to get the ball rolling in 2020, but the pandemic pushed back our timeline so we could focus on caring for immediate needs,” said Senior Project Manager Carl Zenor. “It did allow us to get the details ironed out and make sure we were giving patients what they need.”
Those needs were determined by evaluating the market and asking Fishers residents what they were missing from their local hospital.
“Many residents were leaving Fishers for certain services,” said Chief Operating Officer Soula Banich. “We identified those additional service lines that were needed, and the campus will go from 50 beds to 88 beds.”
In order to expand current services such as their cardiovascular care, gastroenterology, orthopedics, general medicine, general surgery, and primary care, as well as obstetrics and gynecology, ear, nose and throat, nephrology, neurology, and pulmonology, the footprint of the hospital will double.
“We’ll add a pediatric emergency department, staffed 24/7 with Riley Children’s emergency medicine physicians and nurses,” Banich said. “We’ll have peds specialists, so there will be the Riley IU Health name added on there. We’ll be doubling our imaging capabilities, and offsite we’ve recently opened our McCordsville clinic and Noblesville clinic. We’ll continue to stay on the market in Fishers to see where we need to grow.”
For now, the community service needs call for a nearly 100-bed hospital. Zenor said they’ve been thinking of the future throughout planning and design.
“We’ve baked in some opportunity for future growth,” Zenor said. “If needed, we could go up to a 300-bed hospital. Currently, around 100 beds is the right sizing for the needs of the community.”
With the doubling of the hospital footprint and services offered, one can expect the staff to be doubled as well. They’ll be hiring, training and working with new employees over the next 12 months.
“Hospital team members will double in size, from clinical to nonclinical, physicians, etcetera,” Banich said. “On campus we’ll have around 250 team members per day and they will go through onboarding: clinical work trials and training before being released to their department. We’ll hire 160 team members in the next year and then an additional 100 team members as we continue to grow.”
“IU Health Saxony opened in 2011 with a niche market in the community,” Zenor said. “We are really good with cardiac care and orthopedics, but didn’t diversify outside of those service lines. Once we began looking at how to get in line with what the community needs and wants, the name Saxony didn’t resonate. They want a local hospital.”
Overall, the hospital team is looking forward to serving the community by expanding current services, and adding those that will keep Fishers residents close to home while they seek out the best health care for themselves and their families.
