(DNAINFO)  Amy Zimmer | December 4, 2016 — Hospitals are expected to spend $6.3 billion on construction in 2016 and 2017, a new report found.

As hospitals expand their footprints across the city, a new report projects that the healthcare industry will spend total of $6.3 billion in construction in 2016 and 2017, with 2 million square feet of hospital space in the pipeline through 2020.

The big spending comes during a time of major changes in the healthcare industry, according to the Building Congress report released Friday.

Hospitals are expanding primary care and outpatient facilities as they look to cut down on overnight stays, while many are also replacing core inpatient facilities by replacing shared rooms that have several beds with more private single-bed suites.

At NYU Lagone’s Tisch Hospital in Kips Bay, for instance, the next phase of remodeling is set to start in 2017, with reconfiguring upper floors for patient care units to contain all single-bed rooms, according to the hospital.

Hospitals are also vying for patients by updating their maternity wings and modernizing specialized treatment facilities. On the Upper East Side, New York-Presbyterian Hospital’s multi-million dollar expansion is set to open in 2018 with an outpatient center and a state-of-the-art maternity ward of 75 private rooms. It will be the first in the city to have MRI capabilities and an operating room in its newborn intensive care unit, according to the hospital.

NYU Langone and NYP each spent more than $500 million in construction costs in 2014 and 2015, the report noted.

Source: Hospital Construction Booms Amid Shift to Outpatient Services – Upper East Side – DNAinfo New York