Saltzer opens Meridian surgery center

Saltzer Health opened its new surgery center on June 16 at its Ten Mile Medical Campus in Meridian, at 875 S. Vanguard Way, just off the Ten Mile Road interchange on I-84. Saltzer opened its four-story building at Ten Mile in 2020.

The surgery center will provide same-day surgery services. It has five operating rooms and a procedure room. The surgical suites are intended for procedures that do not require an overnight stay for patients.

At the June 16 opening ceremony, Meridian Mayor Robert Simison talked about the surgery center’s role for job creation and urban renewal at Ten Mile Crossing: “This surgery center is a great continued investment in our community…This is a great partnership that started in an urban renewal district. Working with the development community, we had a vision. Private investments bring facilities, bring services and bring jobs…It is an amazing facility and a beautiful place to work.”

The center is a joint venture between Intermountain Healthcare, which owns Saltzer, and local physicians. “As a joint venture, the surgery center creates an environment focused on exceptional patient care while reducing costs to patients and increasing efficiency through centralized management,” said Ed Castledine, the CEO of Saltzer Health, in a statement.

The 22,500-square-foot surgery center is on the first floor of Saltzer’s medical building, adjacent to its new imaging center equipped with MRI, X-ray, CT, Dexa and ultrasound technology. Saltzer’s 24/7 urgent care clinic is also located on the first floor.

The Ten Mile medical building also houses clinical and office space for Saltzer primary care providers and specialists. The firm plans to open a physical therapy clinic on the first floor and a gastroenterology offices and center at Ten Mile on the third floor later this summer.

Saltzers chief medical officer, John Kaiser, M.D., said that both patients and providers will benefit from the close proximity of all these services at one location. “As the Treasure Valley grows, Saltzer Health is evolving to better meet the needs of our patients,” Kaiser said. “Founded 60 years ago, our organization is committed to providing affordable personalized care with providers patients get to know and trust.”

Saltzer’s history

Saltzer was founded by Joseph Saltzer, M.D., in 1961. The Nampa-based multi-practice attempted to merge with the St. Luke’s Healthsystem but was prevented by an antitrust lawsuit that worked its way through federal courts from 2012 to 2015. The Treasure Valley development company Ball Ventures Ahlquist (BVA) acquired Saltzer in 2019.

BVA sold the multi-practice to the Intermountain Healthcare system in October 2020. Before its sale, Saltzer was the largest independent medical multi-practice in the state. The medical firm has more than 80 primary care and specialty providers and approximately 450 employees. While under BVA’s umbrella, Saltzer nearly doubled the number of its physicians.

Saltzer has also doubled its facilities in the Treasure Valley over the last two years, opening the Ten Mile Medical Campus and five urgent care centers, at Caldwell, north Meridian, south Meridian, Ten Mile and east Boise. It has two additional urgent care centers and a sleep lab in Nampa; an ophthalmology practice in Caldwell and medical offices in west Boise and next to St. Luke’s Medical Center in Meridian.

Saltzer’s medical campus building is part of BVA’s Ten Mile Crossing business park. Construction on the four-story 144,880-square foot  Saltzer building began in July 2018. BVA’s cost for the two buildings was estimated between $60 million and $70 million when construction started.

Saltzer is owned by Intermountain Healthcare, a not-for-profit system of 24 hospitals, 225 clinics, a medical group and the SelectHealth insurance company. The Salt Lake City-based health care firm provides medical services in Utah, Idaho and Nevada. Besides Saltzer, Intermountain sells medical insurance in Idaho and operates a hospice and the Cassia Regional Medical Center, both in Burley.