NGHS and Lifepoint Rehabilitation to build new inpatient rehab facility

Patients in need of long-term inpatient rehabilitation in North Georgia will soon have more access to these critical services. Northeast Georgia Health System (NGHS) and Lifepoint Rehabilitation, a business unit of Tennessee-based Lifepoint Health, have entered into a joint venture partnership to build and operate a new inpatient rehabilitation facility in Gainesville.

The state of Georgia approved the project's certificate of need last week.

Construction of the $62 million project is expected to begin later this year. NGHS and Lifepoint Rehabilitation anticipate opening the facility to patients in 2025.

Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville has offered inpatient rehabilitation care since 1989. This new facility will allow more patients to get the care they need closer to home, says NGHS Vice President of Oncology, Orthopedic and Rehabilitiation Services Kevin Matson.

"We’re so excited that this partnership will not only increase availability of this kind of care in the region, but it will also improve the patient experience and expand the kinds of therapies we can offer," says Matson.

The new facility will provide intensive nursing, physical, occupational, and speech pathology services for adults recovering from conditions such as stroke, neurological disease, brain or spinal cord injury, and other debilitating illnesses or injuries.

With a total of 40 private rooms, the 61,000-square-foot facility will nearly double the patient capacity of the existing 24-bed inpatient rehabilitation unit at NGMC Gainesville. It will include a designated wing for brain injury and stroke patients, a large therapy suite, gym, private therapy rooms, a cooking therapy room, an Activities of Daily Living therapy apartment, and a variety of innovative rehabilitation equipment.

Lifepoint Rehabilitation will manage the day-to-day operations of the facility.

"We are proud to partner with Northeast Georgia Health System as we expand access to critically needed inpatient rehabilitation services for patients in Gainesville and the surrounding communities," said Lifepoint's vice president of operations David Stark.

When it opens, the NGHS rehabilitation facility will join Lifepoint Rehabilitation's growing network of more than 30 inpatient rehab facilities across the country.