To continue providing residents in Bucks and Montgomery counties with access to high-quality emergency medical services, St. Luke’s plans to double the size of its emergency room at the Upper Bucks Campus hospital in 2025. Ground will be broken this fall to expand the ER to meet the community’s needs, where providers will be able to treat up to 40,000 patients per year when the project is completed.

The St. Luke’s Upper Bucks Campus, located conveniently at the intersection of Route 663 and Portzer Rd., near Route 476 in Milford Township, has experienced significant, continuous growth since its opening in 2019.

The new $8 million, 11,000 square-foot expansion will add 12 new patient treatment bays, bringing the total to 28, which will require the addition of 20 FTE (full-time equivalent) staff, including board-certified emergency medicine physicians, nurses and technicians, according to Dennis Pfleiger, president of St. Luke’s Upper Bucks campus since its inception. The expanded unit will be constructed behind, and connect to, the existing ER, which is attached to the east side of the hospital.

The new ER is being built with financial support from Vincent Randazzo, who contributed $50,000 for the pediatric area in the waiting room.

“I grew up in this community and chose to raise my family here. So, investing in the future health of the area is important to me,” Randazzo said. “My wife and I made a charitable investment in St. Luke’s to make a positive impact, and I know that we will continue to invest here for the future of our own children and the generations that follow.”

This hospital enlargement comes just five years after the facility opened with 40 beds and an ER capacity of 22,000 patients per year. In 2023, the organization added a three-story, 118,000 square-foot tower on the west side of the original hospital, bringing cancer services, expanding obstetrics, birthing and neonatal intensive care units while increasing the number of inpatient beds to a total of 70.

“We are growing our ER capacity in response to our patients, who tell us they are pleased with the quality of care they receive here,” said Pfleiger. Since the hospital opened five years ago, the facility has experienced steadily rising patient volumes often resulting in over-capacity issues in the original 11,000 square-foot ER. Pfleiger says this demand is expected to continue rising as the region grows, with the biggest population increase comprising Baby Boomers, persons aged 65 years of age and older.

“The strong St. Luke’s brand, combined with the excellent services given by our patient-focused ER staff, our certified trauma center and stroke accreditation, have resulted in continuously increasing demand for our nationally recognized care,” added Pfleiger.

Since opening its doors, St. Luke’s Upper Bucks campus has invested an additional $250-plus million in technology, staffing, services and facilities, affirming the organization’s commitment to improving the health of this community. St. Luke’s last year opened outpatient pediatrics, OBGYN and gastrointestinal practices in Harleysville and owns 100 acres of open land on its Upper Bucks hospital campus for program and facility development.

The hospital/network recently purchased land in Souderton, just off of Rt. 309, for future development of outpatient facilities. August 2025 will mark 30 years since St. Luke’s acquired the former Quakertown Hospital, which now serves the community as center for inpatient mental health services.

 

About St. Luke’s

Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 20,000 employees providing services at 15 campuses and 300+ outpatient sites.  With annual net revenue of $3.4 billion, the Network’s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke’s hospitals operate the largest network of trauma centers in Pennsylvania, with the Bethlehem Campus being home to St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital.

Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania.  In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley’s first and only four-year medical school campus.  It also operates the nation’s longest continuously operating School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 45 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with more than 400 residents and fellows. In 2022, St. Luke’s, a member of the Children’s Hospital Association, opened the Lehigh Valley’s first and only free-standing facility dedicated entirely to kids.

SLUHN is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare’s five-star ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction.  It is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital.  The Network’s flagship University Hospital has earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from Fortune/PINC AI 11 times total and eight years in a row, including in 2023 when it was identified as THE #4 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY.  In 2021, St. Luke’s was identified as one of the 15 Top Health Systems nationally.  Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.  The Network is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers.

 

Information provided to TVL by:
Sam Kennedy