Update, June 5: Tennova said they hope for the Certificate of Need change request process to be complete by mid-July. That would be more than a week before the CON hearings for the other two hospitals.

Previously:

CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – In the wake of two new hospital announcements in Montgomery County in recent weeks, Tennova Healthcare-Clarksville has now announced a plan to change the location for a planned satellite hospital from north Clarksville to a spot next to its current ER in Sango.

Tennova’s plan, announced in 2021, had been for a 12-inpatient bed satellite hospital with a 14-bay ER to be built on Trenton Road near 101st Airborne Division Parkway. The new plan, announced Wednesday, is to place that facility instead on a 10-acre property immediately adjacent to the current Tennova ER on Highway 76, just east of Exit 11.

In recent weeks, TriStar and Ascension Saint Thomas have both announced plans to build full-service hospitals with ERs in Clarksville, pending the approval of state Certificates of Need. However, Tennova has already acquired a Certificate of Need (CON) and is shifting gears to change the location.

The Sango location is also directly next to the planned site for the Ascension Saint Thomas location.

This is a path they have been actively pursuing “well before Ascension and HCA/TriStar Health announced their intent to apply for CONs for new hospital facilities in Clarksville,” according to a news release.

Original 12-bed location on Trenton

According to the initial Dec. 15, 2021, announcement, Tennova’s satellite hospital would “provide acute inpatient medical and surgical services” with construction expected to begin in the third quarter of 2022, and a projected opening in early 2024. That never happened.

“As of today, we pulled the Certificate of Need that was fully approved by the state of Tennessee to arrange the new hospital,” Drew Emery, chief executive officer of Tennova Healthcare-Clarksville, said during a Clarksville Rotary Club meeting on Wednesday.

“That Certificate of Need was received a few years back, and in the coming days, we’re in the process of filing a relocation project to remove it from the current name to the different parcel of land we have closer to our freestanding Emergency Department.”

Why the delay?

During the meeting, Emery welcomed questions, and one Rotary Club member asked why Tennova was making this decision now if they had the approval for several years.

Emery explained the project was designed and ready to go, but, “As I’m sure construction costs for all of your business are going up crazy, the project is essentially double the cost for the same footprint.”

According to Emery, since he started working at Tennova 2 1/2 years ago, Tennova has been working on redesigning the new building in order to meet the needs of their patients and services provided, which is only one part of the delay.

The other reason is the strict rules and regulations that go into hospital construction. “We are heavily, heavily, heavily regulated on just the care we provide in our buildings, and so all of the construction process takes significant time.” Some of the projects Tennova has taken on have taken 12 weeks for something people may do on their homes in three weeks because of all the additional state guidelines.

Impact from incoming hospitals

Another member asked if TriStar’s application for a CON gets approved, would it impact Tennova at all?

“Who knows?” Emery answered. “At the end of the day, we’ve been here for 71 years, we’re going to be here. We’re going to continue driving the services that the community needs and that we believe the community needs. We’re going to continue to care for everybody that walks through the door.”

In Wednesday’s news release, Tennova argued that Nashville-based healthcare systems may be more motivated to transfer patients to their larger facilities an hour away.

“The two newly proposed hospitals have a limited number of beds available and services that duplicate those offered at Tennova Healthcare-Clarksville,” the release said. “None of the proposals will increase availability of higher acuity care, such as trauma care or heart surgery, or needed services such as behavioral health.”

“Our fast-growing community will need more healthcare services in the future, and we believe Tennova Healthcare remains the best choice for expanding health facilities,” Emery said in the news release. “Through the skills of our team, we have a strong ability to deliver a wide range of services, including primary care, emergency care, maternity care, cardiac care, surgical care, orthopedic care and so much more – right here, at home.”

Clarksville Now has reached out to Tennova for the next steps in its CON change request.

The CON hearing for the Ascension Saint Thomas and TriStar requests will be Wednesday, July 23, at 9 a.m. at 425 N. Representative John Lewis Way, Senate Hearing Room I, Cordell Hull State Legislative Building, Nashville. The meeting is open to the public.

| MORE: