SSM Health Care-St. Louis has announced plans to replace SSM St. Joseph Hospital of Kirkwood with a “hospital of the future” in southwest St. Louis County, one of the fastest-growing areas in metropolitan St. Louis.  The 158-bed hospital will be located at Highway 141 and Bowles Ave., just south of I-44, at the current site of Lakewood Golf Course.

The planned hospital will feature the latest clinical technology and information systems, including a state-of-the-art, paperless information technology system to strengthen the quality of services, improve efficiencies and enhance patient safety. Other amenities will include comprehensive medical/surgical services such as heart, cancer, orthopedics and women’s services. The campus also will include a medical office building and an outpatient care center -- offering patients convenient, one-stop health services.  The $215 million health care campus is expected to be complete in 2008.