Kaiser Permanente Opens New Advanced Care Center

ATLANTA — Following a 10-month renovation, the Kaiser Permanente Southwood Comprehensive Center has doubled health care space for patients. The two-story, $45 million project brought the facility to 113,000 square feet increasing space for the 24/7 advanced care center.

“KP’s mission is spreading good health through our communities,” said Kerry Kohnen, president of Kaiser Permanente Georgia, in a statement. “Southwood now has a state-of-the-art space for new specialties; plus, our emergency-trained staff will now be able to offer urgent care to this area.”

The addition now houses the Acute Care Center, Clinical Decision Unit, procedure suite, sterile processing, pain medicine, orthopedics, podiatry, urology, gastroenterology, surgery, optometry, ophthalmology, pulmonology, rheumatology and endoscopy.

“The Advanced Care Center allows us to provide coordinated care to our members 24 hours a day, seven days a week outside of a hospital setting,” said Michael Doherty, executive medical director of Kaiser Permanente of Georgia, in a statement. “Our Southwood Comprehensive Medical Center saves time and money, while enabling us to deliver high-level care through doctors who are board certified in emergency medicine and have access to our members’ complete medical records.”

Gresham, Smith and Partners, which holds offices in Alpharetta, Ga., designed the expansion while St. Louis-headquartered McCarthy Building Companies headed construction.

The project, which is aiming for LEED Silver certification, used BIM 360 technology and installed prefabricated materials for all the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems. The use of building technologies allowed the project to be completed two months ahead of schedule.

“This building is a great example of how today’s technology really enhances the building process,” said Kevin Kuntz, McCarthy Southeast Division president, in a statement. “Executing a short construction schedule is always good news received by clients and building partners alike. In this case, it allows people access to new medical services just a little bit sooner — and that’s a great thing we are proud to help provide.”