The facility, which broke ground about 3 1/2 years ago, is one of only four similar facilities of its kind on the East Coast, joining the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, the Emory University Orthopaedics & Spine Hospital in Georgia and the University of Florida Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Institute in Florida.
“Thanks to Dr. Chhabra’s extraordinary leadership, UVA now has a comprehensive, state-of-the-art orthopedic facility,” Ryan said. “The building itself is quite impressive, and the health care team is top-notch.
“Patients and their families, including student-athletes, will be well-served by this new center, which reflects UVA Health’s commitment to outstanding care and medical education.”
With 90 exam rooms, four outpatient operating rooms (with plans to expand to six), surgery support and imaging services, a retail pharmacy and food service, the 195,000-square-foot facility is the ultimate one-stop shop for orthopedic and musculoskeletal care.
"This facility is designed to be patient-centric, making it easy for our patients to receive all the orthopedic care they need under one roof,” said Dr. K. Craig Kent, chief executive officer of UVA Health and executive vice president for health affairs at UVA. “There is no other orthopedic center like it in the commonwealth, and bringing together our orthopedic patient care, research and education in this beautiful facility will assist our orthopedics team in developing innovative care to serve residents of Virginia and beyond.”
The center unites all of UVA Orthopedics’ outpatient clinics, meaning patients who have sustained multiple injuries will no longer have to schlep around Charlottesville to various specialists – a foot and ankle clinic here, a hand clinic there – for their treatment.
“The thing that had frustrated me for years during my time on faculty was the fragmented care that we were providing,” Chhabra said. “We had clinics in different buildings. You needed to go to a different building for an MRI, a different building for therapy, a different building for prosthetics/orthotics. Now we have everything in one location.
“A patient who has a wrist fracture and an ankle injury or back problems and hip problems – they can now be seen in this facility in a very convenient and efficient manner because all of our specialists are here together. They’re working together, they’re collaborating together, and they are providing the highest level of care together.”