GALLATIN, Tenn. (WTVF) — A Sumner County emergency room is asking state regulators to approve a roughly $60 million expansion that would transform the facility into a full-service hospital.
Highpoint Health submitted a new certificate of need to Tennessee's Health Facilities Commission for the project, which would add both adult and pediatric inpatient beds to its Gallatin location. The commission is expected to take up the application in June.
Right now, patients who need to be admitted overnight cannot stay at the facility.
"So, if someone comes in and they're sick enough to need to be in the hospital, we have to transfer them," Highpoint Chief Medical Officer Geoffrey Lifferth said.
Lifferth said those transfers come with real consequences for patients and emergency crews alike.
"Having transfer times where you tie up an ambulance to move between hospitals is definitely a downside," Lifferth said.
He said the financial burden on patients is also a concern.
"Transferring often, there's an expense with that. So, that alone is going to save money for patients," he said.
The new application follows a setback last year, when the Health Facilities Commission denied a roughly $20 million renovation proposal for the site. Lifferth said that rejection came after questions about whether the facility would offer a sufficient range of services.
"They said, well, if you're going to do inpatient beds, wouldn't they be better served at a place that could do those things?" Lifferth said.
The new, larger proposal is designed to address those concerns. Gallatin is part of one of the fastest-growing areas in the state, and Lifferth said the demand for expanded care is something he hears about regularly.
"I get asked all the time, couldn't we just stay here?" Lifferth said.
He said the team is confident the updated application responds to the commission's previous questions.
"That's the plan—to put both adult and pediatric inpatient beds," Lifferth said. "We're optimistic that, I think, [we] address the questions that came up in the previous hearing."
The final decision rests with the state. The Health Facilities Commission is scheduled to consider the application in June.
Are you or someone you know facing long waits or costly transfers at a Sumner County emergency room? We want to hear your story. Watch our full report to see what a $60 million hospital expansion could mean for your family — then reach out to tell us how healthcare access has affected you in Sumner County. Contact reporter Kim Rafferty at kim.rafferty@NewsChannel5.com
In this article, we used artificial intelligence to help us convert a video news report originally written by Kim Rafferty. When using this tool, both Kim and the NewsChannel 5 editorial team verified all the facts in the article to make sure it is fair and accurate before we published it. We care about your trust in us and where you get your news, and using this tool allows us to convert our news coverage into different formats so we can quickly reach you where you like to consume information. It also lets our journalists spend more time looking into your story ideas, listening to you and digging into the stories that matter.
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