By HFT Staff

UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies (MCR) is planning a major expansion to meet the growing health care needs of northern Colorado. 

The highlights of the expansion project include a new tower that will be built on the north side of the hospital. When complete, the project will increase the hospital’s bed capacity from 187 to 283 with room to grow up to 319 beds. 

The $280 million project will include: 

• A five-story tower will serve trauma-surgical, medical-surgical and surgical-ICU inpatients, among others. 
• A cancer center on the first floors of the north medical office building and the new tower. The new cancer center will feature high-dose radiation therapy, which patients currently travel to metro Denver to receive. It also will feature a new gynecological oncology clinic, a new radiation oncology program, including a linear accelerator, and additional medical oncology clinic and infusion space. 
• The emergency department will grow from 27 rooms to 49 rooms and include a new entrance. 
• Two electrophysiology labs and two cardiac catheterization labs will be added to the south side of the existing hospital building. 
• Imaging will be expanded with additional CT, ultrasound and MRI services and an additional interventional radiology suite on the east side of the existing hospital building. 
• Parking will be expanded for patients and staff. 

The project is in the design phase. UCHealth expects to break ground in late-2023. The cancer center is expected to begin seeing patients in mid-2024, and the new tower is expected to open in 2026.