Since 2020, when Vanderbilt Health announced plans for a community hospital in Rutherford County, they have been fighting for the right to build in court. To build a new hospital, the sponsoring entity must file a Certificate of Need with the state and it must be approved. Theirs was approved in 2021, but then it was blocked by court action.
The project was put on hold in 2023 when the courts ruled in favor of those blocking the new facility. Earlier this year, the 2023 decision was overruled, paving the way for Vanderbilt to build the long-planned $144.3 million, 42-bed facility near Veterans Parkway and I-840, across the street from the new community hospital built by Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford and a number of new medical office buildings.
Vanderbilt purchased the 79 acres of land it will sit on in 2021 for $8 million. According to WGNS radio, the new ruling [affirmed] that state regulators acted properly when they approved the project back in December 2021. This decision from the Davidson County Chancery Court restored the Tennessee Health Facilities Commission’s final approval, with the judge noting that the decision was supported by substantial evidence and was not arbitrary.
This new Vanderbilt Health full-service hospital will provide emergency care, surgical capabilities and heart catheterization services, as well as enhanced obstetric, pediatric, and ICU care, which they are already offering in the county.
Vanderbilt Health sees it as strengthening the services it already offers within Rutherford County – caring for thousands of children and adults in the community. According to a press release, they have provided more than $8 million in charity care to residents of the community, and made more than $40.5 million in capital investment in the community between 2017 and 2020, previous to their initial request for the right to build a hospital.
“We did not undertake the decision to submit a new application for Vanderbilt Rutherford Hospital lightly. But we have heard from numerous people in Murfreesboro and Rutherford County, including state and local government officials, community and business leaders, fellow health care professionals, and, most importantly, many of our patients, who are vocal supporters of these plans and continue to encourage us to move forward with this proposal,” said C. Wright Pinson, MBA, MD, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Health System Officer for VUMC in the same press release.
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