Geisinger Community Medical Center invests nearly $50 million in Scranton hospital

SCRANTON, Pa. - Geisinger Community Medical Center (GCMC) has several projects in motion to address critical and growing health care needs for the Scranton, Lackawanna County and larger northeastern Pennsylvania community.

Renovation is underway to add 19 new postpartum beds and more pre- and post-operative care to GCMC's labor and delivery capacity. The project is expected to reach a 12-bed milestone in December and be completed in April 2026.

To provide more onsite care for newborns, GCMC has upgraded its nursery from a well-baby nursery to a continuing care nursery capable of caring for babies who may need help breathing or regulating their temperature but do not need the higher acuity care of a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Geisinger leadership is targeting next year to begin work on a NICU, which, when complete, will provide care for babies with more complicated conditions and need for critical care right in Scranton.

GCMC is also addressing an increasing community need for more emergency care by adding 24 emergency medicine treatment areas to its first floor, an update made possible by the migration of a variety of outpatient specialty services from the medical center to Geisinger's 3 W. Olive Street facility where they have more room to grow.

The multi-faceted plan for improvement within the hospital's current footprint includes installing a second MRI machine for diagnostic imaging and building an additional suite for endoscopic procedures. These enhancements to care capacity will be supported by the growth of Geisinger's patient transport services in Lackawanna County.

These efforts follow the opening or reactivation of 41 inpatient beds earlier this year, 22 of which were enabled by moving behavioral health services to Geisinger Behavioral Health Center Northeast when it opened in August 2023.

These most recent and ongoing renovations represent a nearly $50 million investment in Scranton.

"We are laser-focused on providing as much safe, quality acute care as possible within the bounds of Geisinger Community Medical Center," said Navneet Dang, M.D., M.B.A., chief medical officer at GCMC. "As more residents of Lackawanna County and surrounding communities come to us for care, we need all these resources to meet their needs."

About Geisinger

Geisinger is among the nation's leading providers of value-based care, serving 1.2 million people in urban and rural communities across central and northeastern Pennsylvania. Founded in 1915 by philanthropist Abigail Geisinger, the nonprofit system generates more than $8 billion in annual revenues across 163 care sites - including 10 hospital campuses - and Geisinger Health Plan, with more than half a million members in commercial and government plans. Geisinger College of Health Sciences educates more than 5,000 medical professionals annually and is conducting more than 1,400 clinical research studies. With more than 27,000 employees, including 1,800 employed physicians and 5,200 registered nurses, Geisinger is among Pennsylvania's largest employers, having an estimated economic impact of $16.8 billion on the state's economy. In 2024, Geisinger joined Risant Health, a nonprofit charitable organization created to expand and accelerate value-based care across the country. Learn more at geisinger.org or follow on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.