University of Mississippi Medical Center opens Ridgeland outpatient campus to expand specialty care

The University of Mississippi Medical Center is phasing in services at a new outpatient campus in Ridgeland to expand access to specialty surgical care in the Jackson metro area, the university said.

Colony Park North is a 131,000-square-foot facility located just off I-55 north of Renaissance at Colony Park, UMMC said. The campus includes a medical office building, an ambulatory surgery facility, advanced imaging services and education space. The building has two wings joined by a central lobby and a covered drop-off area, with a one-story ambulatory surgery center on the right and a three-story medical office building on the left, the university said.

UMMC said the ambulatory surgery facility has six operating rooms and two procedure rooms and will support a range of same-day surgeries. On-site support services include a full-service laboratory, pre-operative testing, post-operative clinics, occupational and physical therapy, pharmacy services and sterile processing. The campus also offers MRI, PET, CT, X-ray and ultrasound imaging, allowing many patients to complete consultations, testing and procedures in one location, the university said.

Specialties in the medical office building include cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery, dermatology, gastroenterology, ophthalmology, orthopaedic surgery, otolaryngology and plastic surgery, UMMC said. Cardiology services began on Tuesday, and orthopaedic and plastic surgery clinics will follow on Feb. 23, with additional clinics opening throughout the spring. Ophthalmology, gastroenterology, dermatology and otolaryngology are expected to begin seeing patients in April, the university said.

“Modern health care requires delivering the right care in the right setting,” Dr. Alan Jones, UMMC’s associate vice chancellor for health affairs, said in a statement. “By moving appropriate outpatient services into a facility designed specifically for them, we can improve scheduling, reduce wait times, and create a better overall experience for patients and families while keeping the main hospital focused on complex and emergent care.” The Ridgeland campus follows the opening of Colony Park South, which began welcoming patients last year, UMMC said.

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