Encompass Health Corp. and Piedmont Healthcare announced they have executed a joint venture agreement to operate inpatient rehabilitation hospitals in Georgia. The parties are currently partnered on Regional Rehabilitation Hospital, in Phenix City, Alabama.
Recently, the partnership was granted certificates of need to own and operate new inpatient rehabilitation hospitals in Atlanta and Columbus, Georgia. In Columbus, the joint venture will construct a new 40-bed, freestanding inpatient rehabilitation hospital near the Piedmont Columbus Regional Northside Campus. The 40-bed Atlanta location will be built inside of the Piedmont Atlanta Hospital. Both new Georgia hospitals are expected to begin providing inpatient rehabilitation services beginning 2023.
In addition, anticipated to be effective June 2021, Piedmont Healthcare will assume partial ownership of Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Newnan in Georgia, a 60-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital opened by Encompass Health in December 2014. These additions will bring the partnership’s inpatient rehabilitation hospital count to four.
Complementing local acute care services like those provided by Piedmont Healthcare, inpatient rehabilitation hospitals serve patients recovering from debilitating illnesses and injuries including strokes and other neurological disorders, brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, amputations and complex orthopedic conditions. In addition to 24–hour nursing care, the hospitals offer physical, occupational and speech therapies to restore functional ability and quality of life.
