Henrico Doctors’ Hospital CEO Ryan Jensen cuts the ribbon at a ceremony with other officials for HCA’s new ER near Scott’s Addition. (Jack Jacobs photos)
HCA continues to expand its local footprint of freestanding emergency rooms.
The health system held a ribbon cutting last week for its new stand-alone ER at 1801 Ellen Road across from CarMax Park, which is slated to open Wednesday. The event came shortly after HCA secured regulatory approval to outfit an ER planned in eastern Henrico.
The Scott’s Addition facility occupies a 16,600-square-foot, two-story building with 11 treatment rooms, on-site imaging and lab testing. The new center, which operates as an arm of Henrico Doctors’ Hospital, is intended to meet demand for medical services in a growing part of the Richmond region, according to hospital CEO Ryan Jensen.
“Scott’s Addition is one of Richmond’s most dynamic neighborhoods. Over the past decade, this area has grown into a vibrant, walkable community where residents, employers, local businesses, restaurants, entertainment, sports venues and visitors all come together,” he said.
“That kind of growth brings energy, it brings opportunity, but it also brings a responsibility. As healthcare providers, we have a responsibility to pay attention to where communities are growing and how people access care. When people are living, working and gathering in one part of the city, emergency care becomes an important part of that infrastructure that supports the community.”
HCA spent $17.8 million on the project, which includes construction and equipment costs in addition to land in the Scott’s Walk development across from the Diamond. HCA bought the site from Thalhimer in 2024 for $5.15 million. The developer previously planned a mixed-use building on the property, which would have featured HCA’s facility underneath apartments.
Scott’s Walk ER is a 16,600-square-foot facility with 11 treatment rooms. The facility slated to open July 22 will be HCA’s 10th freestanding emergency room in Virginia.
The emergency center, known as Scott’s Walk ER, will be open 24/7 and be staffed by board-certified physicians and other personnel. It is equipped to provide the same level of emergency services found in a hospital-based ER and is intended to take pressure off Henrico Doctors’ Hospital.
“(The ER) gives patients another option for serious illnesses and injuries, while helping preserve capacity at the hospital-based emergency departments for the most complex cases,” Jensen said.
State Sen. Lamont Bagby, Richmond City Councilwoman Katherine Jordan, HCA Dr. Edmund Sciullo and Amit Patel of the Richmond Ambulance Authority also shared remarks at the event.
Hourigan is the general contractor and Hereford Dooley Architects is the project architect.
HCA plans to open a freestanding ER in 2028 on the site of the closed Red Lobster at White Oak Village. The restaurant would be razed as part of the project.
Meanwhile, HCA is moving forward with yet another freestanding ER, this time in eastern Henrico.
The health system plans to tear down the former Red Lobster restaurant at 4415 S. Laburnum Ave. to make way for an 11,000-to-12,000-square-foot ER that would cost upward of $17 million, according to HCA Chief Development Officer Shaila Menees.
HCA is leasing the property, which is an outparcel of White Oak Village shopping center. It previously planned to open an urgent care clinic on the site but later changed gears after a review of patient data and feedback from EMS agencies suggested an ER would be more appropriate there, Menees said.
“To make sure that we could serve the needs of the community, and in talking to EMS, we pivoted to have that be the ER and then we’re actively looking for an alternative site for an urgent care (in the same area),” she said.
The 11-bed ER is expected to open in late 2028. The health system late last month received state regulatory approval for a CT scanner that would equip the ER at White Oak, Menees said.
In Virginia, certain medical facilities and equipment require regulatory approval through the Virginia Department of Health’s Certificate of Public Need program.
Elsewhere in HCA’s local ER footprint, the Tennessee-based health system opened a stand-alone ER in Chesterfield in June near the county courthouse. That location, plus the Scott’s Walk facility bring the company’s local free-standing ER count to five.
Additionally, HCA is planning to open an ER in the former Octapharma Plasma center at 3830 Hull Street Road in South Richmond.
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