LG Health Considers Emergency Department Expansion

Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health is again investing in the future of health care in downtown Lancaster, as part of our plan to address unprecedented demand for emergency services at Lancaster General Hospital.

LG Health is considering an expansion at LGH that would double the size of the hospital’s Emergency Department and possibly increase its number of inpatient rooms. The project’s total scope and cost have yet to be finalized. Planning and design will continue over the next several weeks, followed by a series of municipal reviews and approvals.

This is the culmination of years of planning by LG Health to ensure the most strategic approach to addressing the growth in demand for our services. We’ve made great strides over the past five years enhancing access to our care while guiding people to the optimal settings for their medical needs, such as our urgent care centers or outpatient facilities. Increasing demand, population growth and changes in the local provider landscape require a thoughtful expansion of LGH.

The Duke Street Expansion Project includes three primary components under consideration:

• A renovated and expanded Emergency Department on the hospital’s ground floor that would double its capacity to approximately 96 total treatment beds.
• A new and expanded food service department offering an even wider selection of healthy foods for thousands of patients and health system employees each day. The expansion would include a more comforting environment serving as the hospital’s communal hub for patients, visitors and employees.
• A potential tower with private patient rooms along Duke Street to increase the hospital’s complement of 537 beds and to enable the repurposing of LGH’s East and West patient wings that date back to the 1940s and 50s.

The LG Health Board of Trustees will decide whether to pursue some or all of the project’s components at its May meeting. Project work completed thus far is in anticipation of Trustee and municipal approvals, to enable construction to begin in early 2020.

The Lancaster General Hospital Emergency Department is now located at 526 N Lime St, Lancaster, PA 17602. Learn about our emergency department expansion project.