JPS Health Network details $1.5B expansion and renovation plans. Here’s the timeline
JPS Health Network will receive the proceeds of its first $450 million worth of bonds at the end of March, according to an official statement filed with a federal oversight board.
This is the first group of bonds that the county hospital district has sold since voters approved an $800 million bond in 2018. The proceeds will fund the first half of the hospital’s renovation and expansion projects.
The average interest rate on the bonds is 4.4%, JPS spokeswoman Jessica Virnoche said in an emailed statement.
Virnoche declined a request from the Star-Telegram to interview JPS staff or executives about the bond in greater detail.
Proceeds from this first batch of bonds will pay for a standalone medical clinic, known as a medical home, a medical office building and ambulatory surgery center, a parking garage, a central utility plant, and other updates. The proceeds will also fund a psychiatric emergency center, one of the county hospital’s most pressing needs.
JPS is the only hospital in Tarrant County to operate a psychiatric emergency center, specifically designed for patients experiencing psychiatric or substance use disorder crises. In all, the first phase is expected to cost $635 million, according to the district’s rating report from the Kroll Bond Rating Agency, and will be financed by the bonds plus another $185 million in operating cash. These projects will be completed between 2025 and 2027, according to the report.
The second phase will cost $876 million, and will be paid for through $350 million in the remaining bond sales and $526 million in cash, according to the rating report. The remaining projects expected to be funded through the bond include a new hospital complex, a new inpatient hospital for behavioral health patients, and additional support buildings, according to a master plan released by JPS.
In all, the renovations and new construction is expected to cost $1.5 billion.
The remainder of the voter-approved debt — $350 million — will be sold in late 2026 or early 2027, according to the hospital’s financial statements.
Construction on the first bond projects began last year, with the groundbreaking of a standalone medical clinic in southwest Fort Worth and a new parking garage near the main JPS campus.
JPS operates a 582-bed main hospital, in addition to its many other services. The hospital serves as the safety-net facility for Tarrant County, meaning that it serves a disproportionate number of patients who don’t have health insurance or who have Medicaid, the joint state and federal insurance program.
In selling the first batch of bonds, the hospital district published new information about its operations, including the fact that it has grappled with unprecedented staffing turnover in the last three years. In 2019, about 13.5% of nurses left and were replaced at JPS. In 2021 and 2022, the turnover rate jumped to 22.5% and 29%. Hospitals throughout the country are facing immense nursing shortages, as nurses have either left the field after treating surges of COVID-19 patients throughout the pandemic or have left permanent staff positions to work for staffing agencies, which often pay more than what a traditional hospital nursing job can offer.
