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Ascension St. Vincent has delayed the debut of its $200 million Indianapolis maternity hospital into early 2025 after announcing an opening date of Nov. 16.
The eight-story Women and Infants Hospital has been three years in planning and construction on the south side of Ascension St. Vincent’s flagship campus at 2001 W. 86th St. The new, 268,000-square foot hospital is set to replace the current Women’s Hospital, which is three blocks away on Township Line Road, off of the hospital campus.
Ascension St. Vincent officials hosted a media sneak preview of the facility in mid-October and set Nov. 16 as the opening date. They hosted an opening ceremony on Oct. 28. But the November launch was scrubbed.
“After careful consideration, the decision was made to reschedule the move-in date to January or February of 2025,” Ascension spokesperson Dan McFeely said in a statement to IBJ. “We understand the importance of this facility in serving the health care needs of women and infants in our community, and we are committed to opening the hospital as soon as it is fully ready to provide the best possible care.
“We are confident that once operational, the Women and Infants Hospital will offer state-of-the-art services and play a vital role in improving health care outcomes.”
McFeely’s statement didn’t directly address a question from IBJ about what caused the delay.
Workers in hardhats and construction vests worked in and around the new building Wednesday morning. Ascension said a new opening date will be announced once the hospital is completed and the organization is certain that all necessary preparations are finalized.
“In the meantime, we continue to offer exceptional care at our existing Women’s Hospital,” McFeely said.
Ascension said the new facility will provide the highest level of care for mothers and babies with highly complex and critical cases while keeping moms and babies under the same roof or in the same room. The features 109 private neonatal intensive care unit rooms, 30 maternity suites, and couplet rooms where mothers and infants can receive care in the same room.
The Women and Infants Hospital is designed to handle 3,000 maternal deliveries a year, from full term babies to high-risk premature births as young as 22 weeks gestation. The new Women and Infants Hospital connects to Ascension St. Vincent Hospital and the Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital.
The women’s hospital is one of only two Level IV perinatal centers in the state, a designation that represents the highest level of care. The other is Indiana University Health’s Riley Hospital for Children.
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