Updated with background.

CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Franklin-based Community Health Systems, the for-profit owner of Tennova Healthcare-Clarksville, announced today that the company will sell its 80% ownership interest in the 270-bed Clarksville hospital, plus associated facilities, to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for $600 million.

VUMC currently holds 20% ownership of Tennova and will purchase the rest through this transaction, according to a news release from CHS. The transaction is expected to close in early 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and closing conditions.

Vanderbilt has owned a 20% share in Tennova-Clarksville since October 2020. That 20% cut for nonprofit purposes emerged in 2005 when Clarksville’s hospital was first sold into for-profit hands.

Clarksville Now has reached out to both Tennova and VUMC for comment.

Growing competition for hospitals in Clarksville

The move comes in the wake of a surge of interest in the health care business in Clarksville.

In July, Ascension Saint Thomas was granted a state Certificate of Need to build a 44-bed hospital in Clarksville, expandable to 132 beds. The $148.5 million investment will create approximately 250 healthcare jobs, and it’s expected to open in 2028.

At the same hearing, TriStar Health, part of Brentwood-based HCA Healthcare, was approved for a 68-bed hospital, expandable to 224 beds, on a site on the south side of Tiny Town Road. The $286 million investment will create more than 200 healthcare jobs and serve both Montgomery and Stewart counties.

Tennova Healthcare unsuccessfully opposed both hospitals, arguing that they were not needed and would be duplicative to existing services.

In August, Tennova was denied state permission to shift a planned satellite hospital to a desired location at Exit 11. Tennova had been granted a CON in 2021 to build an additional 12-bed satellite hospital with a 14-bay ER on Trenton Road. That hospital was never built, and Tennova wanted to move it to a spot next to their Exit 11 Sango ER. That location is also next to the planned Ascension Saint Thomas campus.

| PREVIOUSLY: How we got to Tennova: Clarksville’s hospital ownership history | ANALYSIS

Timeline leading to Tennova

Here’s a timeline of Clarksville’s hospital management.

  • April 1996: Clarksville Memorial Hospital shifts from government act oversight to become private, nonprofit entity.
  • 1996: Vanderbilt University Medical Center opens Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Clarksville.
  • Early 1997: Clarksville Regional Health Care System begins lease of CMH from Memorial General Hospital District Board.
  • April 1999: Clarksville Regional renamed “Gateway Health System” (GHS), 206-bed hospital renamed “Gateway Medical Center.”
  • September 2002: Gateway becomes home base for Vanderbilt’s third LifeFlight helicopter.
  • October 2004: GHS invites 11 hospital operators to submit proposals for construction of new hospital.
  • November 2004: Gateway-Vanderbilt Cancer Treatment Center opens.
  • August 2005: GHS chooses for-profit Triad Hospitals to purchase hospital, in 80/20% split between Triad/GHS.
  • November 2005: City Council and County Commission narrowly approve Triad/GHS deal.
  • July 2006: Triad breaks ground on new 270-bed hospital on Dunlop Lane.
  • December 2006: Clarksville Volunteer Health and Community Health Foundation created as custodians of GHS’ 20% share of new hospital.
  • March 2007: Franklin-based Community Health Systems announces purchase of Triad nationwide.
  • June 2008: Gateway Medical Center moves from Madison Street into new hospital on Dunlop Lane.
  • Late 2010: Demolition of the old hospital to make way for Publix.
  • February 2016: Gateway renamed as part of Tennova Healthcare, a division of CHS.
  • January 2017: Tennova announces it will renovate ER.
  • December 2017: Tennova opens satellite ER in Sango.
  • October 2020: Vanderbilt enters agreement to acquire CVH/GHS’ 20% share of Tennova-Clarksville.
  • December 2021: Tennova gets Certificate of Need for satellite ER on Trenton Road, which is never built.
  • October 2025: CHS announces it will sell its 80% share of Tennova to Vanderbilt.

Sources: Pre-2010 primarily Leaf-Chronicle archives, post-1010 primarily Clarksville Now archives.

| GET YOUR MORNING NEWS: Sign up for the free daily Clarksville Now email newsletter