Hospital boom adds billions to Arizona economy

Arizona’s hospital system is experiencing a dramatic financial boom — and improving the financial forecast of the state itself.

Health care networks and private companies are planning to build at least nine hospitals and expand or renovate 23 existing hospitals during the next five years.

"We’ve been playing catch-up," John Rivers, CEO of the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association, an industry group representing the state’s hospitals, told The Arizona Republic.

"I would say virtually every hospital in Arizona is either in the middle of a major expansion, completed a major expansion or is planning the next expansion. In some cases, they are doing all three."

Hospitals have responded with ambitious plans to build more and to build quickly. The association estimates that the state’s hospitals will spend $3.3 billion in the next five years to add about 2,900 inpatient beds, swelling the Valley’s total supply by 20 percent.

It will also improve employment, creating 14,900 jobs each year and add $2.6 billion in wages over that five-year period, according to a study commissioned by the hospital association.