The following hospitals announced or completed plans in the last week to expand, upgrade or renovate their facilities.   By Alia Paavola - 10/18/18

Several traumatic, violent incidents at Houston-based Ben Taub Hospital during the past four years have led officials to develop new security measures to protect staff and patients, Click 2 Houston reports.  By Alyssa Rege - 10/18/18

Pensacola, Fla.-based Sacred Heart Health System, part of St. Louis-based Ascension, said several facilities are still without power as of Oct. 16 — six days after Hurricane Michael devastated parts of the South, NBC 7 reports.  By Alyssa Rege - 10/18/18

Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Novant Health filed a certificate of need with North Carolina regulators to build its 16th hospital, according to a WFAE news report.  By Alia Paavola - 10/17/18

Akron (Ohio) Children's Hospital completed an $84 million expansion of its professional building, which will bring most of the hospital's outpatient clinics together in one location, according to Cleveland.com.  By Alia Paavola - 10/17/18

Thanks to nearly $115 million in investments, Williamsport-based UPMC Susquehanna will build a new center of excellence for physician medicine and rehabilitation and revamp its cancer center, the system said Oct. 16.  By Morgan Haefner - 10/17/18

Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare opened its 23rd hospital Oct. 15 — a full-service, 43-bed facility.  By Alia Paavola - 10/16/18

To accommodate patient volume growth, MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, Wash., added 80 beds to its facility, according to The News Tribune.  By Alia Paavola - 10/16/18

St. Vincent Healthcare in Billings, MT, shared how they’ve introduced a standardized, daily bleach-based cleaning and disinfecting protocol that’s used everywhere – from high-risk patient care areas to waiting rooms and public restrooms – to fight C. diff and enhance infection prevention and patient safety facility-wide.  By Staff - 10/16/18

Fairfield Medical Center in Lancaster, OH, announced the results of a facility-wide infection prevention campaign that used a combination of innovative techniques to reduce HA-C. diff infections by 90% and drive C. diff incident rates to zero.  By Staff - 10/16/18

Santa Barbara (Calif.) Cottage Hospital completed a series of renovations Oct. 10 that totaled more than $820 million, according to a KSBY news report.  By Alia Paavola - 10/15/18

Bay Medical Center Sacred Heart, a 323-bed hospital in Panama City, Fla., began evacuating patients to other hospitals Oct. 11 after suffering significant structural damage by Hurricane Michael.  By Alyssa Rege - 10/12/18

The following hospitals announced or completed plans in the last week to expand, upgrade or renovate their facilities.  By Alia Paavola - 10/11/18

Advocate Aurora Health, a recently merged entity comprised of Downers Grove, Ill.-based Advocate Health Care and Milwaukee-based Aurora Healthcare, broke ground Oct. 9 on a $130 million ambulatory surgery center and medical office building, according to Kenosha News.  By Alia Paavola - 10/10/18

Health systems across the U.S. are looking for ways to improve the overall health of the communities they serve while simultaneously cutting costs. One of the popular trends emerging in the healthcare space to combat these seemingly competing incentives is an emphasis on primary care or other express care sites.  By Alia Paavola - 10/9/18

Georgia regulators greenlighted Piedmont Athens (Ga.) Regional Medical Center's $171 million expansion and renovation project, according to the Athens Banner Herald.  By Alia Paavola - 10/9/18

Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University will name a new research building after Henrietta Lacks, whose immortal cells have contributed to several medical breakthroughs and controversies.  By Alia Paavola - 10/9/18

UC San Diego Health will open more than 10 express and primary care sites over the next four years to increase patient access to providers.  By Alia Paavola - 10/9/18

A group of cardiologists trained at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City is opening a string of technology-infused preventive cardiology clinics across the city, CNBC reports.  By Jessica Kim Cohen - 10/8/18

Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Novant Health, in partnership with GoHealth Urgent Care, plans to establish a large network of urgent care centers across North Carolina. The first phase of the project will include constructing 15 centers in Charlotte and Winston-Salem, N.C.  By Alia Paavola - 10/8/18