Richardson | February 2026

Health care

BY ISABELLA ZEFF

Methodist Richardson Medical Center ocially opened its new ambulatory surgical center in a ribbon-cutting ceremony Jan. 6, expanding the medical center’s capacity for both major and Methodist opens new ambulatory surgical center

The center will include: 7 pre-operation beds 7 recovery beds 30 surgeries per day (projected average)

minor surgeries. The big picture

Ambulatory surgeries are minor procedures, such as setting a wrist fracture or performing a colonoscopy, and patients are able to go home the day of their surgery with no need for an overnight stay. The center will exclusively perform these operations. Methodist Richardson has been working to add an ambulatory surgical center to its campus for the last three years, said Ken Hutchenrider, Methodist Richardson Medical Center president. “It’s really to further round out our overall services, because there are patients that need ambulatory surgery, and it makes perfect sense to have it here in an ambulatory center versus coming into the main hospital,” Hutchenrider said. The center is part of a $22 million expansion that aims to boost Methodist Richardson’s surgical capacity and create the foundation for a higher trauma designation. Why it matters Having this designated center for minor proce- dures will free up space in Methodist Richardson’s main operating rooms for more patients who need

Methodist Richardson held a ribbon cutting event to celebrate the hospital’s new ambulatory surgery center Jan. 6.

SOURCE: METHODIST RICHARDSON MEDICAL CENTERCOMMUNITY IMPACT

ISABELLA ZEFFCOMMUNITY IMPACT

extensive care, Hutchenrider said. Hutchenrider estimated that the ambulatory surgery center will see about 30 patients a day, a third of the normal volume of the main operating rooms. “That will allow us to backll [our main operat- ing rooms] with a more dicult, more critical type of patient,” Hutchenrider said. Hutchenrider said Methodist Richardson is also working on adding at least two new operating rooms to the main hospital and considering adding a new tower in the next few years. Medical Director of Cardiology Nhan Nguyen said that the ambulatory surgery center will expand the hospital’s quality of care.

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“We have the opportunity here to be on the ground oor to create something very, very special, and I think this is just the beginning of the whole thing,” Nguyen said.

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