Daijiworld Media Network - Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Oct 27: Felicia and Ben Horowitz have pledged $150 million towards the construction of Nevada’s first stand-alone children’s hospital, turning a decades-old personal promise into a major philanthropic commitment aimed at improving access to specialised paediatric healthcare.
The donation was announced on October 23, 2026, by Intermountain Foundation. The proposed facility will be named the Intermountain Health Felicia and Ben Horowitz Children’s Hospital in recognition of the couple’s contribution. According to Intermountain Health, the gift is among the largest publicly announced donations to a children’s hospital in the United States.
The commitment has a deeply personal significance for Felicia Horowitz. Around three decades ago, she watched her child receive lifesaving treatment at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford in California. During that difficult period, she noticed the Packard name displayed on the hospital walls and promised herself that if she and her husband could one day afford it, they would help other families facing similar circumstances.
That promise has now taken shape through the couple’s contribution to the Nevada Campaign for Kids, a broader philanthropic initiative supporting the development of the hospital.
Felicia Horowitz is president of the Horowitz Family Foundation and co-founder and president of The Paid in Full Foundation. Her husband, Ben Horowitz, is a co-founder and general partner of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, popularly known as a16z.
The project aims to address a longstanding gap in paediatric healthcare in Southern Nevada, where families requiring complex medical treatment have often had to travel outside the state.
According to the *Las Vegas Sun*, Las Vegas is the largest metropolitan area in the United States without a stand-alone children’s hospital. The publication also reported that Nevada ranks 48th in paediatricians per capita and that nearly 30,000 Nevada families leave the state annually to seek healthcare for their children.
For families requiring specialised consultations, advanced procedures or prolonged treatment, travelling out of state can involve additional expenses, time away from work and the challenges of managing a child’s medical care far from home.
The proposed hospital in Las Vegas is intended to reduce these barriers by bringing specialised paediatric services and medical expertise together under one roof.
Ben Horowitz said he was surprised to discover the gap in children’s healthcare after moving to Southern Nevada with his wife around five years ago. He expressed hope that families would no longer face the risk of losing a child because the required medical expertise was unavailable locally.
The hospital is being developed at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ Harry Reid Research and Technology Park in southwest Las Vegas. The overall project is estimated to cost more than $1 billion, making it a major healthcare infrastructure investment for the region.
The planned facility will cover approximately 828,600 square feet across a 33-acre campus. Its inpatient tower is expected to open in 2030 with 180 beds, with provision to expand capacity to 228 beds as demand increases.
Intermountain Health has committed to financing a substantial share of the project, while contributions from individuals and organisations are helping advance the fundraising campaign. The Horowitz family’s $150 million pledge represents a significant contribution towards the hospital’s development.
The project broke ground on October 26, 2026. Once operational, it is expected to create around 1,300 jobs and generate an estimated $800 million in annual economic impact for Clark County, according to the *Las Vegas Sun*.
Beyond inpatient treatment, the hospital is expected to strengthen the region’s capacity to provide specialised care for children. Intermountain Health said the investment would support the recruitment of experienced paediatric healthcare professionals, the development of specialised programmes and advances in medical research.
Behavioural health has also been identified as a priority, alongside broader access to specialist paediatric services. Recruiting physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals will be central to establishing the hospital’s services and building medical expertise within Nevada.
The project is linked to Intermountain Health’s wider paediatric healthcare network. The organisation operates Primary Children’s Hospitals in Utah and is expanding paediatric services in Billings, Montana. Its broader objective is to connect specialist knowledge, research and treatment across the communities it serves, allowing medical advances in one location to benefit children elsewhere in the network.
The Horowitz family’s contribution follows several other substantial donations to the Nevada Campaign for Kids. According to the *Las Vegas Sun*, Larry and Heidi Canarelli pledged $50 million earlier in October. In August, the Las Vegas Raiders and three of the franchise’s co-owners committed a combined $25 million. Singer Bruno Mars also contributed $1 million at a public event in April.
Felicia Horowitz has stressed that improving children’s health requires support from the wider community. She hopes families across Nevada will regard the future hospital as a shared institution dedicated to serving children throughout the state, rather than as a project belonging to any single donor.