Houston: Ben Taub Hospital’s $70M redo to maintain Level-1 trauma status

​​HOUSTON – County commissioners approved seven new operating rooms to their existing 11 and the $70 million needed for construction at Ben Taub Hospital. 

The facility is fighting to maintain its status as a Level-1 trauma hospital.

Ben Taub is one of two Level-1 trauma hospitals for adults in the heart of Houston.

President and CEO of the Harris Health System — which runs Ben Taub — George Masi said the possibility of losing one of those hospitals is extremely worrisome for a city this size.

County Judge Ed Emmett said that in the project to remove all doubt surrounding the status and improve the county’s hospital, they will remodel 60,400 sf of Ben Taub clinic space on the second floor and build out 62,000 sf of shell space at Ben Taub Tower to house the relocated clinic services.

This will create a total of 18 operating rooms, including one hybrid trauma room for the most complicated traumas. In addition to that, Harris Health told Channel 2 that they are hiring several new surgeons to tackle the additional demand.

Masi said the project will begin in the next few months. None of the current operating rooms will close during construction.

The project is estimated to be complete in December 2017.