LECOM officials broke ground Friday on the future site of an outpatient surgery center.

The future ambulatory surgery center will be located at the corner of Peach and Bryant St. in Millcreek Township.

The 23,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art surgery center will allow for same-day surgery procedures that are generally too complicated to do inside doctor's offices but not complex enough to require a lengthy hospital stay.

"I think the benefits certainly are the convenience for patients, cost savings for patients and payers, efficiency for the doctors, [and] maybe access to more procedures for the community as well," said Anthony J. Ferretti, D.O., LECOM Health.

Construction on the surgery center is expected to be completed in about 15 months.