NATRONA HEIGHTS, PA – Allegheny Health Network (AHN) has embarked on a $12 million expansion project to enhance the imaging and radiology department at Allegheny Valley Hospital (AVH).
The new 8000-square-foot imaging center at AVH will expand the hospital’s current imaging department capabilities and absorb the services currently offered at AVH’s outpatient radiology center, located just a short two miles away from the hospital at 2801 Freeport Road in Natrona Heights. The Freeport Road radiology center will close in late summer.
When completed, the new AVH imaging facility will offer a full spectrum of radiology services and technologies, including additional breast imaging and mammography capabilities, as well as dual x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scanning. DEXA measures bone density and helps to diagnose conditions such as osteoporosis.
AVH’s current imaging services include ultrasound, 3D mammography, CT scanning, MRI, and general radiography.
“This investment in Allegheny Valley and its radiology department will further advance our caregiving team’s ability to make the most accurate diagnosis possible for our patients, which helps us to address their health needs in a timely and clinically appropriate manner,” said Vicenta C. Gaspar-Yoo, MD, MBA, CHCQM-PA, Allegheny Valley’s president.
AVH is also in the process of building a new mobile imaging pad, which will allow for rotating MRI and PET-CT scan capabilities starting in August.
The Allegheny Valley service region continues to see robust demand for imaging services. In the last year, the Freeport Road radiology center performed 12,000 outpatient imaging procedures, and the AVH radiology department performed 31,000 imaging procedures.
“To better serve our diverse patient populations and communities, it is critical to have comprehensive imaging care close to home,” said Bethany Casagranda, DO, chair of the AHN Imaging Institute. “By combining our Natrona Heights location with AVH, patients will have everything they need conveniently located under one roof. This arrangement will help our patients live their best and healthiest lives. And that’s what our Living Health model is all about.”
Staff currently working at the AVH Freeport Road outpatient imaging location will be joining the expanded AVH imaging center, or they will have the opportunity for redeployment elsewhere within the AHN footprint.
AVH’s renovated radiology department is the latest in a series of recent investments in the hospital by AHN and Highmark Health. In January 2023, the hospital began a $3.4 million parking garage project to upgrade the structure’s integrity and drainage.
AHN and Highmark Health have invested approximately $400 million over the past several years to enhance the technological capabilities of the AHN Imaging Institute and expand its patient care capacity across the region.