New southwest valley health care center opening in September

By Jackie Valley

Wednesday, May 6, 2015 | 11:15 a.m.

A nearly 93,000-square-foot Kindred Healthcare building under construction in the southwest valley will add 160 skilled-nursing beds to the market when it opens later this year.

Kindred expects the subacute and transitional care center, located next to Spring Valley Hospital on Rainbow Boulevard, to be ready for patients by the end of September. The healthcare company broke ground on the construction project last fall.

The center will serve as a “middle step” for patients who no longer need acute care in a traditional hospital but aren’t back to their prior level of strength, said Linn Billingsley, division vice president for Kindred. Physical, occupational, speech and recreational therapies will be offered at the center, among other services.

The center will boost Kindred’s total number of skilled-nursing beds in the Las Vegas Valley to 268. Patients’ average length of stay at such transitional care centers is 28 days, although some stay as little as a week or two, officials said.

“There’s definitely a big need for it,” said Gerd Peters, district director of sales and marketing for Kindred. “Vegas has historically been a little under-bedded with skilled-nursing facilities.”

Kindred officials said they expect to hire a total of 250 employees — primarily nurses and therapists — to staff the center once it’s running at full capacity.

Kindred, the largest national provider of post-acute care services, describes its Las Vegas portfolio as an “integrated care market” because the company operates transitional care hospitals, subacute and transitional care centers, outpatient services and home care in the region.