CoxHealth has entered into a joint venture with Select Medical to build a new inpatient rehabilitation hospital in the Springfield area.
Currently, CoxHealth offers inpatient rehabilitation care at the Meyer Orthpedic and Rehabilitation Hospital and at Cox Medical Center Branson. The new hospital will consolidate that care.
Ashley Casad, senior vice president and president of CoxHealth’s Springfield Hospitals, said the new facility will offer all private rooms.
"The facility that we are currently in, it's an older building. It was built in the 60s, so there are not private rooms in there," she said, "and so, this gives us just a brand new building, a brand new facility. It will have all new, you know, state of the art technology for rehab."
The demand for inpatient rehab is increasing as the population ages, said Casad.
The new facility will be operated by Select Medical as the managing partner. The new hospital will be 49% owned by CoxHealth and 51% owned by Select Medical.
CoxHealth chose that company because it’s one of the largest providers of post-acute care.
"This is their area of expertise. All they do is rehab," said Casad, "and so we felt like it was really important to partner with someone who this is their primary focus, that they are best in industry and can really help collaborate and offer that expertise to us and our patients."
The state must approve a certificate of need for the new hospital.
A location hasn’t been announced yet, but Casad said the new inpatient rehabilitation hospital will be in Springfield or just to the south.
The facility is tentatively planned for opening in late 2025.
