A growing trend in medicine over the past two decades continues to take root in Greater Rochester.
We're starting to see more health care services move out of hospitals and into outpatient settings. On Wednesday, Rochester Regional Health began construction on a comprehensive new center for orthopedic and spinal care in Canandaigua.
Dr. Gordon Whitbeck, the health system's executive medical director for orthopedics and sports medicine, said he remembers a time when each Finger Lakes town had its own hospital. Over the past three or four decades, the region has become a relative medical desert, he said, with residents having to travel to Rochester or elsewhere for their care.
"And really, nothing could make me happier than to commit to providing, perhaps in a different way, care close to home, like they used to receive from their community hospitals on a regular basis," Whitbeck said.
In addition to the convenience for patients, Whitbeck said this type of outpatient care is more cost-effective.
"These centers have been demonstrated to provide care that is of the highest quality, is associated with, in fact, an improved customer service experience, and at a much lower expense than perhaps similar care could be provided in an acute care setting, such as a hospital," he said.
The center, which will be located inside an existing medical building at 183 Parrish St. in Canandaigua, will offer one-stop access to orthopedic and neurological care, including pain management, imaging, and outpatient surgery.
Construction is expected to be completed in spring 2027.
The University of Rochester Medical Center opened the region's first ambulatory orthopedic surgery center in Henrietta in 2023.
