Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) Patient Pavilion Project
On April 25, 2023, Dartmouth Health amplified its commitment to providing world-class care in our communities by opening Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center's 240,000-square-foot inpatient expansion. The Patient Pavilion enhances our capacity to address the increasing needs of the region’s most critically ill patients, who require specialty and sub-specialty care.
The five-level expansion includes 64 state-of-the-art, single-patient rooms located on Levels 3 and 4. At first, levels 2 and 5 will be undeveloped. To meet future needs, we can construct 64 more patient rooms on those levels. Level 1 includes a beautiful new entrance with nearby parking for patients and families. It also includes a comfortable lobby and a welcoming chapel. Additional amenities—such as a small food and beverage stand, lactation room and generous public restrooms—line the path to our existing DHMC facilities.
Now that the Patient Pavilion is open, our inpatient heart and vascular unit will move in. The unit will grow from 36 to 48 beds, and a new 16-bed medical special care unit will also open. This move will create space in our existing DHMC facilities, which we will use to expand our surgical services.
This opening brings several technological enhancements. These include updated remote clinical monitoring communication tools and applications to connect hospitalized patients to their medical record. This will also be available in our existing patient care areas. Other enhancements, such as smart care boards and added telehealth equipment, will cascade into our existing facilities through a series of ongoing upgrades and renovations.
The need for the expansion, approved by the Trustees in 2018, is driven by the increasing number of patients from around the region who require specialty, sub-specialty, and high-acuity care that is only available at DHMC, New Hampshire’s only academic medical center. Ensuring that our communities have access to the care they need, close to home, is at the heart of Dartmouth Health.
Read our patient pavilion articles
Patient Pavilion construction timeline
| Construction milestone | Timeline |
|---|---|
| Groundbreaking | July 2020 |
| Site excavation | Summer and fall 2020 |
| Building foundation | Fall and winter 2020 |
| Steel framing | Winter 2021 |
| Building enclosure | Fall 2021 |
| Construction complete | Fall 2022 |
| Opening | April 25, 2023 |
Inpatient parking at DHMC
The Inpatient Visitors Parking Lot is now open!
- Follow signs for Entrance #2. This is the Inpatient Visitor Entrance.
- The Inpatient Visitor Parking Lot is for anyone visiting a patient at the hospital.
- The Inpatient Visitor Entrance is open from 5 am to 11 pm, 7 days a week.
- If you need to enter the building after hours, enter through the Emergency Department. Signs will direct you from the Inpatient Parking Lot to the Emergency Department entrance.