By HFT Staff

UW Health has officially started construction on the University Row Medical Center, an expansion of the existing Digestive Health Center. 

The center will be connected to the Digestive Health Center, about two miles west of University Hospital. This project marks a strategic step in the long-term plan to vacate the aging facility and improve access to care in Madison’s central Isthmus. 

The plans have been years in the making, according to Katrina Lambrecht, chief administrative officer, UW Health. 

University Row Medical Center is a significant step forward in the health system's plan to provide space for most of the clinics, according to Lambrecht. 

Construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2027, and the first patients are anticipated to have appointments in the new space at the beginning of 2028. 

While some specialty practices currently located at the 20 S Park Clinic will temporarily relocate to University Row, the long-term vision for the new four-story clinic is to serve as a primary care location. It will include adult and pediatric primary care, urgent care, imaging and laboratory services, rehabilitation and a pharmacy. 

The services at UW Health West Towne Clinic, which include an urgent care clinic, located on Mineral Point Road in Madison, will also relocate to University Row Medical Center. Krupp General Contractors is building this addition for UW Health, which will lease the building when it’s completed. 

This is just one of several ongoing construction projects UW Health has underway, according to Lambrecht. 

At University Hospital, construction is underway to add a six-story structure planned to include 22 emergency department rooms, 22 flexible care beds and 48 inpatient rooms. The new space will be used for the trauma and life support center and will enable additional space for patient prep and recovery for surgery and radiology appointments. This addition is being built between University Hospital and the UW Medical Foundation Centennial Building. Completion is planned for late 2026. 

East Madison Hospital is undergoing a one-story expansion to include six new operating rooms. The addition will also add 14 inpatient beds and 60 post-surgery care spaces. The emergency department will grow to accommodate a capacity of 48 patients. This construction is also expected to be completed at the end of 2026. 

At American Family Children’s Hospital, the sixth floor is being developed to expand the pediatric intensive care unit and add a cardiac intensive care unit. The project includes building 24 pediatric and cardiac intensive care beds, 14 of which will serve medical-surgical pediatric intensive care patients, and the remaining 10 rooms for cardiac intensive care patients. The floor is scheduled to be ready for patients in early 2027, 20 years after the children’s hospital opened. 

UW Health, UnityPoint Health – Meriter and Lifepoint Rehabilitation, an operating division of Lifepoint Health, kicked off construction recently on a second free-standing inpatient rehabilitation hospital in the greater Madison area. The new 40-bed, 58,000-square-foot facility in Fitchburg is within a 10-mile radius of 70 percent of Dane County’s population. It joins the partners’ existing 50-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital in eastern Madison that has served patients since September 2015.