In 2022, Northern Nevada Health System opened Northern Nevada Sierra Medical Center on Longley Lane in south Reno. The original hospital has 124 acute care beds, while Sierra Medical Center has 170. Courtesy
Anyone who has driven freeways in greater Reno-Sparks knows Washoe County’s population has grown. Between 2020 and 2030, the total population in Washoe County is expected to increase by 17 percent, or nearly 92,000 new residents.
The county’s rapid growth over the past decade pressures regional health care providers to adequately serve the needs of the county's residents. New facilities continue to come online across the region’s various health networks to better accommodate the health needs of Northern Nevada residents.
We’ve put together a rundown of new developments with the region's leading healthcare providers to help inform residents of their care options.
Renown Health
Renown is the largest healthcare network in Northern Nevada. It’s also the region’s only private, not-for-profit healthcare organization.
In fiscal year 2023, Renown had 1,003 licensed beds. Renown medical providers delivered 4,070 babies, provided care for more than 184,510 urgent care visits, and performed 25,597 inpatient and same-day surgeries.
In 2023, Renown Children’s Hospital was accredited as a Level II Pediatric Trauma Center, the only one in this region. Renown Regional Medical Center is also the region’s only Level II Trauma Center between Sacramento and Salt Lake City for adults and children.
Brian Erling, president and chief executive officer of Renown Health, said that as the only not-for-profit health system in Northern Nevada, Renown Health continues to reinvest into the care and health of the community with facility upgrades and new facilities.
“Our trauma services at Renown are outstanding,” Erling said. “The only difference between a Level I and Level II trauma center is whether you have a surgical residency and are doing trauma research. Outside of that, our operating room availability, specialty access and level of care is all identical to a Level I trauma center.”
Renown Health is on the road to achieving Level I certification, Erling added. The organization is looking to add a surgical residency to train more surgeons for the community. Renown Health is in the second year of its pediatric residency program.
Renown’s South Meadows campus has undergone transformational changes in recent years to better meet the needs of the Northern Nevada residents. A 121,000-square-foot specialty care center at the South Meadows campus is expected to open in 2025. The thoughtfully crafted space is driven by insights from patients, visitors and team members and showcases best-in-class technology, prioritizes patient care, and focuses on employee well-being. The three-story building is directly connected to the existing medical center and includes:
● All-new kitchen and dining facilities
● Expanded laboratory and diagnostic services — including interventional radiology and a cardiac catheterization lab
● Surgery center and expanded sterile processing department
● Conrad Breast Center, made possible through a $5 million donation from local philanthropists Jeanne and Raymond Conrad
● Additional parking and bicycle racks
“The population growth really has been so significant in Washoe County, especially in south and north Reno,” Erling said. “We are moving some of the services offered at Renown Regional and getting them down south to a very accessible area. This is a very intentional shift to South Meadows to make sure we are meeting the community where they want to get their care.”
The new specialty care center will feature the Conrad Breast Center, which offers breast oncology, surgery, diagnostic and screening imaging, infusion and wellness and survivorship programs. Erling said Renown executives are already planning an additional building at the South Meadows campus to create more primary and specialty care access for the southern part of the city.
Renown Regional Medical Center also recently increased its capacity with a new pediatric and neonatal intensive care unit and new surgical trauma ICU, which features 34 private patient rooms. Renown is also amidst a massive overhaul of its central utilities plant, which houses Renown Regional’s boilers, electrical distribution and backup power systems.
“The NICU was programmed opened with 49 beds, and we should have been able to grow into that over the course of a decade, but we have been running at capacity essentially since it opened,” Erling said. “We are already programming to grow our NICU capacity because we need more beds.”
Renown is also leveraging its partnership with the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, Nevada’s first academic health system, to train future doctors and healthcare professionals in a wide spectrum of medical specialties and establish a pipeline of compassionate providers with deep ties to the local community.
Erling said Renown Health is pursuing an addiction medicine fellowship, and it’s in the early stages of starting an OBGYN residency. Next up, he added, is creating a general surgery training program.
“It is absolutely part of our mission,” Erling said. “We need that pipeline of development to make sure we are growing our own talent for our community; it is extremely important.”
Saint Mary’s Health Network
Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center, a 308-bed acute care hospital located in the heart of downtown Reno, is the cornerstone of Saint Mary’s Health Network.
Saints offers a full range of medical services, including orthopedics and surgical services, women’s health, a highly-rated cancer center, oncology, and much more. Saint Mary’s Health Network also operates multiple urgent care clinics, as well as imaging, lab, wound care, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and primary care offices throughout Greater Reno-Sparks.
Mark Reece, director of business development, marketing and communications, said that expanding access to health care is of increasing importance as our communities continue to grow. To that end, the organization’s software system called “Get Care Now” allows people to schedule visits to the emergency room. By logging in, patients can see wait times and rest in the comfort of their own homes if the ER is super busy rather than spending an inordinate amount of time in the waiting room.
“Being able to reach patients at every possible point of access along the care continuum is incredibly important,” Reece said. “Get Care Now is an online portal and tool where you can see wait times and request a reservation to be seen in the emergency department for non-life-threatening emergencies.”
Courtesy
Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center, a 308-bed acute care hospital located in the heart of downtown Reno, is the cornerstone of Saint Mary’s Health Network.
Patients of course can come into the ER right away or dial 911 during any emergency, Reece noted. By accessing the portal, the Saint Mary’s team is aware of your situation and can be prepared when you do arrive.
“Emergencies can be unpredictable,” Reece said. “GetCareNow puts you in touch with our care team, and the increased communication and transparency have been items we’ve received positive feedback on from patients.”
Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center also expanded its offerings in 2024 with the addition of Dr. Sina Rajamand to its medical group. Dr. Rajamand specializes in both minimally invasive and complex spine surgery, artificial disc replacement, endoscopic spine surgery, and brain tumor resections. In addition to its brain and spine surgery services, Saint Mary’s added Boston Scientific’s Farapulse Pulsed Field Ablation (PFA) system, used for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF), the most commonly diagnosed arrhythmia in clinical practice.
In other developments, Saint Mary’s has reopened its three-story gym in conjunction with Parkway Athletic Club, and in a partnership with Post Acute Medical, Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center is home to a long-term acute care hospital within the main facility.
“We strive to continuously provide exceptional care to all patients we have the privilege of treating,” Reece said. “Improving, and in many instances expanding, access to critical clinical resources and treatment options is an endeavor our entire health network remains committed to.”
Saint Mary’s also announced the reintroduction of its hyperbaric oxygen therapy program in September of 2024, a treatment and intervention that enhances oxygen levels in affected tissues so that normal healing mechanisms can take place.
Northern Nevada Health System
Northern Nevada Medical Center in east Sparks has served residents of Greater Reno-Sparks for more than four decades. In 2022, Northern Nevada Health System opened Northern Nevada Sierra Medical Center on Longley Lane in South Reno. The original hospital has 124 acute care beds, while Sierra Medical Center has 170.
In late 2024, Northern Nevada Health System will open Northern Nevada Northwest Specialty Hospital at 6225 Sharlands Avenue in northwest Reno. The facility will offer acute rehabilitation and adult behavioral health services. These services are already offered at the Sparks facility, but having them moved exclusively to the new northwest Reno location allows for significant expansion of both programs, said Chris Cordero, associate administrator at Northern Nevada Medical Center.
The Sharlands Avenue building was originally built as a skilled nursing facility but had to undergo some interior renovations to better accommodate the new services, Cordero added.
Chris Cordero“There are some unique features there, such as a pre-discharge transition-to-home apartment and access to multidisciplinary teams that require some unique building capabilities,” Cordero said. “We wanted to build everything out appropriately to ensure we can best meet the needs of the patients that will occupy this facility.”
Northern Nevada Northwest Specialty Hospital will have 70 beds – 48 for behavioral health patients and 22 for acute rehabilitation patients. The facility occupies a unique niche in northwest Reno, which predominantly lacks medical facilities except for ER at McCarran Northwest, a NNHS freestanding emergency, and a Saint Mary’s urgent care on Sharlands Avenue.
“Our goal with this expansion is to address a gap in the community in that area to support behavioral health patients, and to expand our scope of service for acute rehab as well,” Cordero said.
In August, Northern Nevada Health System also broke ground on a freestanding emergency room in North Valleys, another burgeoning part of town that’s underserved when it comes to medical care facilities. It’s the system’s fourth freestanding emergency department, joining ER at Spanish Springs on Oppio Ranch Parkway and ER at Damonte Ranch on Steamboat Parkway, Cordero noted.
The new ER in North Valleys is located at the intersections of Sky Vista and Vista Knolls parkways. The facility provides quicker access to care for north Reno residents, especially as ongoing construction work on U.S. 395 snarls traffic throughout that northern transportation corridor.
Jim Bradley, chief operating officer at Sierra Medical Center in south Reno, said the freestanding emergency rooms are redefining the way residents of Reno and Sparks are able to access care throughout the Truckee Meadows.
“Reno is booming, and it’s difficult for all organizations to keep up with emergency care needs,” Bradley said. “Freestanding emergency departments are a great resource for care – you can come in and be seen by an emergency medicine physician or provider. They have advanced imaging capabilities and lab services, and if you do need a higher level of care, you have that immediate backdoor ambulance ride to a regional hospital.
Jim Bradley“They are convenient, they are open 24/7, they have really specialized teams of providers and staff, and they have much lower wait times, which is atypical for an emergency department,” Bradley added.
Sierra Medical Center is also growing its structural heart, Family Birthing Center and neonatal intensive care programs to address growing need for each of those services, Bradley noted. The hospital is pursuing Level III NICU certification, which is one step below the most advanced certification available nationally.
“Level III will allow us to serve that 28-week population,” Bradley said. “Ten to 15 percent of all births in the Reno-Sparks community depend on NICU services, and we are growing our capacity, adding technology, and hiring neonatologists to take care of those babies.
“Northern Nevada Health System offers a fully integrated delivery network – wherever you are in the care continuum, whether it's giving birth or at the end of life or you need heart surgery, we have two dedicated hospitals and teams of primary and specialty providers that are part of our medical group. You can access our urgent care facilities or freestanding emergency departments. All your needs can be met under the Northern Nevada Health System umbrella.”
Carson Tahoe Health
Carson Tahoe Health’s main hospital campus serves residents of Carson City, Gardnerville, Minden, Silver Springs, Dayton, Yerington and beyond. The organization includes Dayton Medical Center, Minden Medical Center, and specialty clinics throughout Carson City and the Carson Valley.
Carson Tahoe Health has two hospital facilities with 240 licensed beds, an emergency care center, and a provider network that’s spread across 20 locations. It’s a certified primary care stroke center, among many other designations.
Carson Tahoe Health in 2022 delivered 1,070 babies, performed 8,278 surgeries, and saw more than 31,000 patients at its urgent care or emergency room facilities.
