McHenry Surgery Center is closing

Dwindling caseload moving to DMC for

By KEN CARLSON
kcarlson@modbee.com

last updated: May 07, 2008 02:39:11 AM

Doctors Medical Center of Modesto is closing its McHenry Surgery Center after 23 years of operation, citing a low volume of outpatient surgeries.

The center on the second floor of the medical office building at 1524 McHenry will close Friday, said Carin Sarkis, spokeswoman for DMC.

The caseload is switching over to Doctors Medical Center on Florida Avenue, which is equipping an additional operating room for outpatient surgeries.

The transition will be completed by Tuesday, she said.

DMC opened the center in 1985 for routine surgeries not requiring an overnight stay in a hospital. Since then, other free-standing surgical facilities have shot up in the Modesto area.

In recent times, the McHenry Surgery Center didn't have enough cases to keep the three operating suites busy, Sarkis said.

The center was handling about 150 cases a month this year.

DMC has a lease agreement with the building owner and is looking into subletting the space, she said.

Outpatient surgery centers started opening in the 1970s as less-expensive options to hospitalization.

Stanislaus Surgery Center was the first in Modesto, opening its doors in 1984, followed by the McHenry center a year later. Stanislaus Surgical was licensed as a short-stay inpatient hospital in 2000.

The McHenry center was shut down temporarily in 2005 after a broken pipe on an upper floor of the building flooded the operating rooms. Other medical offices were soaked, as well.

DMC and the surgery center are part of the for-profit Tenet Healthcare Corp. based in Dallas.

Bee staff writer Ken Carlson can be reached at kcarlson@modbee.com or 578-2321.

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