MADISON, Wis. – In the fall of 2024, UW Health opened Eastpark Medical Center, a more than 475,000-square-foot, seven-story facility, and the largest medical facility to be completed in the United States that year.
The first year the facility was open to patients has exceeded almost every expectation, according to Teresa Neely, vice president and regional chief operating officer, UW Health.
“We’ve seen some incredible responses from patients and staff to this new space,” she said. “Our weekly volume for appointments is above what we anticipated.”
On average, there are approximately 1,050 clinic visits per day at Eastpark, or about 5,300 per week, as well as an average of 4,600 ancillary appointments — supportive or diagnostic appointments like imaging, lab, nutrition and rehab — per day, or almost 23,200 per week.
Data also shows that this location is providing new access to care. For example, 22% of patients seen at Eastpark in the first year — about 34,000 people — were new to UW Health, and 27% of patients with specialty care appointments were new to that specialty. Access to specialty care at Eastpark is more important than ever due to the rapidly growing demand, according to Neely.
“As part of the clinical program planning for Eastpark, we completed 10-year projected growth rates for the specialties planned for this location,” she said. “Just four years into those forecasts, we’re seeing growth rates exceed the 10-year projections in 18 of those specialties.”
UW Health has also received very positive feedback about how easy it is to navigate and travel to this location, with approximately one-third of patients coming to the center living on the east side of Dane County, and another third coming from outside the county.
“We wanted the space to be easy to get to and easy to get through, so we built it in a convenient location, while also ensuring it was easy to find your way around once you arrived,” Neely said.
Staff have also shown interest in working at the new facility, according to Neely. There are approximately 750 employees who work at Eastpark Medical Center, 55% of whom were newly hired to work at UW Health. The turnover rate for registered nurses is also well below the national average at Eastpark, at just 4.5%.
“We’re pleased to see that not only do patients want to receive care here, but care team members want to work here,” Neely said. “With the accelerated growth we experienced, we added almost 70 surface lot parking spaces in December ahead of the planned parking expansion.”
Looking ahead to the center’s second year, Eastpark will also be home to proton therapy, a highly precise radiation therapy for cancer. This innovative therapy space met several milestones this year, with construction completed in May and the upright proton therapy positioning system installed in September. Traditional proton therapy delivered via a gantry beam is scheduled to begin in spring 2026. Eastpark will also be one of the first facilities in the world to offer upright proton therapy, allowing patients to remain in a comfortable upright position during treatment, which is scheduled to begin in summer 2026.
Eastpark opened to patients in three phases, beginning with 20 specialties and ancillary support services on Oct. 28, 2024. On Nov. 11, 2024, the clinical research unit, infusion therapy and the first five floors of the cancer services opened. Finally, more than a dozen specialties began to welcome patients on Nov. 18, 2024, including physical and occupational therapy, neurology, pain management and integrated specialty care for women. Eastpark offers more than 40 types of specialty care, including cancer care provided through the UW Health | Carbone Cancer Center, Wisconsin’s only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center.
The center features the largest solar canopy in Wisconsin, with 2,064 solar panels atop the parking structure, generating clean energy for the medical center.
Eastpark also features more than 1,100 pieces of original art from more than 250 artists.
Other onsite amenities include a pharmacy with drive-up services, onsite health technology support, gardens and walking paths, and a cafe featuring recipes created in partnership with patients who have been treated for cancer.
“We set out to create a space that offered a highly coordinated care experience for our patients,” Neely said. “We’re proud to have met that commitment in this first year, with patients able to schedule physician, lab and imaging appointments on the same day under the same roof, and we look forward to building on that coordinated approach in the coming year, and in the years to come.”
