Vanderbilt gets the go-ahead to build a hospital in Murfreesboro, despite no current need for additional beds

The Tennessee regulators who decide whether a community needs another hospital have authorized Vanderbilt University Medical Center to build a $144 million facility in Murfreesboro. The contested certificate of need passed the Health Services and Development Agency board on Wednesday by a vote of 5-1.

Dr. Kenneth Patric, who made the motion to approve, noted that Rutherford County doesn’t necessarily need more hospital beds at the moment, but Vanderbilt provided figures for how many residents are currently driving to VUMC in Nashville to get care and bypassing Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford and TriStar Stonecrest.

Both hospitals opposed allowing Vanderbilt to build in Rutherford County.

“Particularly in the pediatric population and some of the other specialized areas like cardiac, there is indeed the need, and we should allow consumers to make that choice once this is established,” Patric said.

The 42-bed facility is set for construction at Veterans Parkway and State Route 840.

Tennessee’s certificate of need laws were recently revised by the state legislature. And instead of weighing only whether a community needs more hospital beds, the law now asks regulators to consider whether consumers would be better served by adding competition.

Vanderbilt has been working to build a small satellite hospital in Rutherford County for years and abandoned a previous application. But it refiled under the new certificate of need law the day it took effect on Oct. 1.