York Hospital, the tertiary-care component of WellSpan Health System, is transforming its existing campus through replacement of key services and improved functional organization. The design team has developed a comprehensive site-and-facilities master plan that provides a framework for long-term facility replacement, including acute care bed replacement, consolidation of cardiovascular services, and reorganization of public and staff/service/patient circulation.

The first phase comprises a new entrance and multistory atrium, a three-story heart hospital, and three floors of patient care units. Subsequent phases will include six additional floors for medical/surgical acute care beds.

The design team and York Hospital worked closely to address the hospital’s objective to reconceive inpatient care delivery. Designers sponsored a roundtable workshop with eight American hospitals to focus on common issues and changes in healthcare delivery, and they worked with a hospital-based multidisciplinary planning team to develop an inpatient unit design.

The design includes all-private patient rooms in a racetrack configuration around each floor with clear zones for caregivers, patients, and family; pods of rooms that can be configured in quantities of four, five, or six rooms within the structural grid, providing options for caregiver staffing-to-bed ratios; staff substations at each pod designed for reduced walking distances to supplies, equipment, and patients, and for optimal visibility between spaces; and teaching and lounge/kitchen spaces provided on every floor for patient, family, and staff use.

Project category: New construction & Remodel/Renovation (completed August 2006)

Chief administrator: Richard Seim, CEO/President, (717) 851-2345

Firm: TRO Jung|Brannen, (617) 969-9400

Design team: Stephen N. Evers, AIA, Principal-in-Charge; Chan Wook Byun, AIA, Design Principal; Joanne MacIsaac, IIDA, Interior Design Principal; James F. Newton, PE, MEP Engineering Principal (TRO Jung|Brannen); Jeffrey A. Klinger, Vice-President and Operations Manager (Turner Construction Company); Richard A. Foley, PE, Vice-President/Senior Principal (Foley Buhl Roberts & Associates, Inc.)

Photography: Gary Kessel, TRO Jung|Brannen

Total building area (sq. ft.): 282,000 (new); 44,700 (renovation)

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $289 (new); $154 (renovation)

Total construction cost (excluding land): $81,500,000 (new); $6,900,000 (renovation)


The completed York Hospital inpatient units address the challenges of providing excellent inpatient care in an era of educated consumer demands, tightened reimbursements, declining staff ratios, and an increased focus on team caregiving.