HealthSouth to build rehabilitation hospital in Shelby County, Alabama, curing limited access for residents
Announcement comes about a month after HealthSouth sold a 61-bed rehabilitation hospital in Beaumont, Texas to Post Acute Medical.
HealthSouth Corporation is planning a physical rehabilitation hospital in Alabama's Shelby County, the health system announced Monday. Financial terms of the project were not disclosed.
The hospital will provide physical rehabilitation to patients who have experienced stroke, trauma, brain and orthopedic injuries, as well as other major illnesses and injuries. It will be located just north of the northeast corridor of I-65 and Highway 52, and will include 34 private rooms, an on-site therapy gym and various rehabilitation technologies.
The development of the hospital is expected to result in an investment of about $25 million in the community, and once it's fully operational, officials expect it to generate about 85 new full-time jobs.
The announcement comes just over a month after HealthSouth sold a 61-bed rehabilitation hospital in Beaumont, Texas to Post Acute Medical for an undisclosed sum.
Linda Wilder, president of HealthSouth's southeast region, said in a statement that the approval process for the facility took over six years, which forced many patients in need to forego inpatient rehabilitative services. The State Health Planning and Development Agency recently issued two certificates of need to allow HealthSouth to build the new hospital.
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"Currently, Shelby County residents have limited access to an inpatient rehabilitation hospital, which requires patients and their families to travel to Jefferson County for treatment," said Wilder. "The new hospital will ensure that residents have appropriate and reasonable access to the latest rehabilitative treatment and technology in a hospital setting."
HealthSouth operates six other hospitals in Alabama, and offers facility-based and home-based post-acute services in 34 states and Puerto Rico. Wilder credited residents, the Shelby County Commission, County Manager Alex Dudchock and James Dedes of the Shelby County Economic and Industrial Development Authority with their support for the new hospital.
The rehabilitation facility is expected to open during the first half of 2018.
Twitter: @JELagasse
