Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in partnership with Surgical Care Affiliates broke ground last week to signal the start of construction of a 12,500-square-foot outpatient surgery center at Wake Forest Baptist Health Medical Plaza – Clemmons. It will be the first standalone outpatient surgery center in Clemmons. The facility is at Lewisville-Clemmons and Peacehaven roads near the new Publix grocery now under construction.

Surgeries slated to be performed at Wake Forest Baptist Health Outpatient Surgery – Clemmons include: gynecology; orthopaedics; pain; plastics; urology and general surgery. The surgery center will offer free parking and drop-off and pick-up access in front of the facility for patients and family members. “This outpatient surgery center will meet the community’s growing health needs in one convenient location, close to home,” said Kevin P. High, M.D., executive vice president, health system affairs, Wake Forest Baptist Health. “Providing surgeries in an outpatient setting offers our patients an opportunity to have safe and efficient surgeries, while at the same time allowing them to recover in the comfort of their own home.”

Wake Forest Baptist chose SCA as its strategic partner to build its surgery facility in Clemmons because of SCA’s specialization in development and optimization of surgical facilities across the country with health insurance companies, medical groups and health systems. SCA currently operates 201 surgical facilities, including ambulatory surgery centers and surgical hospitals, in partnership with approximately 3,000 physicians. “The opportunity to partner with an academic medical center in Wake Forest Baptist has been on our radar for a while,” said Kelli Collins, vice president, operations, Surgical Care Affiliates. “The breadth and scope of Wake Forest Baptist’s expertise provides a foundation for outstanding patient-and-family centered care in the surgical services that this center will provide.” Wake Forest Baptist and SCA are joint owners in the venture, with Wake Forest Baptist as the majority owner.

Summit Healthcare Group – a Winston-Salem based, real estate development company specializing in medical office projects – is the developer for the project. Construction of the single-story building is expected to take 10 months, with a total project cost of $8.1 million.