DHR Health Brownsville plans expansion for surgery, emergency room

About three years after retrofitting a once-shuttered hospital in Brownsville, Edinburg-based Doctors Hospital at Renaissance plans to invest in renovation of its emergency room and surgical capabilities. 

In the coming months, DHR expects to renovate 14,000 square feet inside the 80,000-square-foot hospital just North of Morrison Road along U.S. 77 in Brownsville, according to the city. 

The three-story building has 59 patient beds, six operating rooms, and an intensive care unit. It was built in 2001 as a single-story hospital and renovated in 2008, adding two more floors and a freestanding building next door by the previous owner, Brownsville Doctors Hospital. That medical facility, known as Brownsville Surgical Hospital, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2013. 

DHR’s real estate arm purchased the property in 2020, according to Cameron County property records. In 2021, the hospital pitched the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for an exception to a federal prohibition on expansion of doctor-owned hospitals, which was granted in 2022. 

DHR opened its doors in 2023 after about $500,000 in renovations, according to records from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. DHR hired 300 employees to work at the hospital. The latest expansion means it expects to hire 30 more workers. 

Expansion plans include six additional emergency room bays, six additional surgical suites, retrofitted radiology, and enhanced equipment, including MRI and CT scanners. 

“From the ER to the operating room, every part of this project is designed around improving patient experience, expanding access, and ensuring that Brownsville families receive world-class medical care right here in their city,” Aida Coronado-Garcia, the chief operating officer at DHR Health Brownsville, said in a news release.