MultiCare expanding territory with new emergency room project, slated to open in ’24
MultiCare is entering a competing health system’s territory with Thursday’s announcement of a new neighborhood emergency room.
The Tacoma-based health system has been developing emergency rooms in the area over the past few years and is now planning one in Bremerton.
In a news release, MultiCare said that it has acquired 2.4 acres at 5900 State Highway 303 NE “to construct a new 10,500-square-foot neighborhood emergency department.”
The site “will feature 10 patient rooms, four observation rooms, on-site radiology services, including X-ray, ultrasound, and CT scans,” it said. “It will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and staffed by board-certified emergency physicians.”
The news comes amid consistently high patient demand at St. Michael Medical Center in Silverdale, part of the Virginia Mason Franciscan Health network serving Kitsap County.
St. Michael has struggled with short staffing and in October experienced online medical network issues tied to parent company CommonSpirit’s ransomware incident. At the height of the cyberattack crisis, an emergency room nurse called 911 for help in serving an overflowing ER. Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue sent a crew to assist, as first reported in the Kitsap Sun.
“There’s a critical need for more emergency medical services in Kitsap County,” said Mark Robinson, president of MultiCare Tacoma General and MultiCare Allenmore hospitals. “Emergency departments across the Puget Sound are often at or near capacity. This new ED will give Kitsap County residents another option for emergency medical care.”
Construction is set to start in spring 2023 and be completed the following year. The facility will operate under Tacoma General’s license.
The Bremerton emergency site will be MultiCare’s sixth neighborhood emergency department, with other locations in Parkland, Bonney Lake, South Hill and Federal Way. It is also building one in Lacey, scheduled to open next fall.
