UMass-Reliant-Shields to open $31M Shrewsbury surgical center

Photo/Grant Welker The Surgery Center in Shrewsbury includes nine operating rooms that are expected to serve about 10,000 patients a year by 2020.

Photo | Courtesy of Shields Health Thomas Shields, CEO of Shields Health, speaks at an opening event for the Surgery Center in Shrewsbury.

Photo/Courtesy One of nine surgical rooms at The Surgery Center, which opens Monday in Shrewsbury.

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By Grant Welker

A new $31-million ambulatory surgical center built in a partnership between UMass Memorial Health Care, Shields Health Care Group and Reliant Medical Group is set to open Monday.

The 35,000-square-foot center is at 151 Main St., just off Exit 22 from I-290.

The Surgery Center will have 70 staff members and nine operating rooms to serve what is expected to be 10,000 patients per year by 2020. Orthopedic procedures and plastic surgeries are expected to account for a majority of procedures there, with other specialties added soon, such as urology and otolaryngology. Surgeons from UMass Memorial Medical Group and Reliant Medical group will operate at the center, which will be open each Monday through Friday.

As an ambulatory surgery center, the facility is meant for operations for patients not needing to be admitted overnight and able to recover at home. UMass Memorial Health Care, Shields Health Care Group and Reliant Medical Group said in an announcement of the opening of the center such facilities help make health care more affordable because they can provide outpatient care for a lower cost than hospitals can because they don't need to pay for emergency rooms, food services and other overhead costs.

Massachusetts still has relatively few ambulatory surgery centers, with 56 through last June, according to the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association. States in the South and Midwest have far more, with Florida alone counting more than 400, according to the group.

The Surgery Center building includes 5,000 square feet for another future tenant.