Lexington-based University of Kentucky Albert B. Chandler Hospital is seeking approval for a $50 million expansion project that will add 141 beds to the facility, reports the Lexington Herald Leader.
The proposal, filed with Kentucky regulators Jan. 24, includes adding 77 acute care beds and 64 intensive care-capable beds to the academic medical center. In 2015, the hospital underwent a 120-bed expansion.
The 64 intensive care beds will be located on one of the floors still under construction in the hospital's patient care tower and the remainder of the beds will be distributed throughout existing hospital space.
"Increasingly, the state's rural and community hospitals and providers are turning to UK HealthCare when patients need complex, advanced specialty care — often for care and procedures that can only be provided at an academic medical center," said Mark Newman, MD, UK's executive vice president for health affairs.
The UK hospital expects a decision on the proposal by June 2018.