West Hills Hospital & Medical Center made news last week when it announced it had lured the renowned Grossman Burn Center from Sherman Oaks Hospital.

But the Nashville Hospital Corp. of America facility was already well on its way to raising its profile with a $60 million renovation that is nearly complete.

The hospital, which has a respected neuro- and spinal surgery program, is putting the finishing touches on a new emergency department, intensive care unit and outpatient services, adding 18 beds to its existing 212 beds.

The new emergency and ICU units, projected to open in spring 2010 – about the same time as the relocated burn center – will be the largest in the San Fernando Valley, said hospital Chief Executive Beverly Gilmore.

“I think that what (Grossman) saw was that West Hills had the same mission and capacity they needed,” Gilmore said. “The new facilities we will be adding will complement their program, and our neurospine and cardiac programs will get more attention from them being here.”

Grossman, which had been located at Sherman Oaks Hospital since its founding in 1969, is expected to move into West Hills’ current ICU area early next year and use 38 beds.

The nationally respected burn center will bring in patients that the hospital wouldn’t normally receive, and give the hospital the expertise of roughly 10 surgeons and other specialists associated with the burn center. The hospital also expects to take on 35 additional staff to support the new department, and spend less than $5 million to convert and equip the space.

“The burn center draws from all over the region and even gets patients from other parts of the country and world, so we’re very excited,” Gilmore said.

More on Grossman

Relocating its flagship facility to the west end of the San Fernando Valley isn’t the only move for the Grossman Burn Center. The center opened its third facility in Bakersfield in June and is on track to open another in Lafayette, La., later this month.

The expansion comes 10 years after the privately held center group opened its second facility in Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, said Dr. Peter Grossman, co-director of the privately held center group and its lead investor.

“Over the years we developed a procedure for treating burn patients that we knew would work elsewhere,” said Grossman, whose father, Dr. Richard Grossman, founded the first center more than three decades ago after convincing Sherman Oaks Hospital leadership to devote two beds to burn patients. “We are partners with the hospitals we affiliate with and have become quite profitable.”

In addition to the new centers, the Grossman Burn Center’s new home at West Hills Hospital will finally allow the center to become more involved in cutting-edge burn therapy research. Grossman said that the center has been in discussions with researchers for several years but didn’t have the facilities at its current home to be a full participant in trials on better ways to perform skin transplantations that won’t be rejected by a patient’s immune system.

IPC Makes Acquisition

IPC the Hospitalist Co. Inc. has made its sixth acquisition this year, adding Hospital Medicine Associates P.C. of Livingston, N.J., to its roster of physician practices.

HMA is the North Hollywood company’s second New Jersey practice after the June acquisition of a practice in Morristown. The company added a Tampa, Fla., practice, Synergy Medical Group, in August.

IPC, which manages hospital-based physicians, last month reported a 50 percent increase in second quarter net income to $4.1 million. It attributed the growth to increased physician staffing, as well as acquisitions in existing markets and newer markets in southeast Florida and New Jersey.

“We continue to build our national footprint,” said Chief Executive Adam Singer in the earnings announcement, noting company now manages physician practices in 19 states.

“Our acquisition pipeline remains robust in this highly fragmented industry. We remain confident that we can continue to grow and penetrate current and new markets through this combination of organic growth and acquisitions,” he said.

Staff reporter Deborah Crowe can be reached [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 232.