CoxHealth rehab hospital plans late January debut

Under construction since August 2024, an inpatient rehabilitation hospital in Ozark is expected to open next month, CoxHealth officials say.

A Jan. 21 ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned for the CoxHealth Rehabilitation Hospital, a 63-bed facility at 1660 W. Garton Road, said Ashley Casad, senior vice president and president of CoxHealth’s Springfield hospitals. The project is a joint venture between CoxHealth and Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania-based Select Medical Holdings Corp. (NYSE: SEM).

KCI Construction Co. is general contractor for the roughly 63,000-square-foot, one-story building on eight acres of land. Omaha, Nebraska-based HDR Inc. is the project architect. The facility will be part of Select Medical’s national network of more than 30 medical rehabilitation hospitals, which includes Cleveland Clinic Rehabilitation Hospital and Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting.

“The construction will wrap up at the end of this month and then in the month of January, essentially that is when we’ll have the various surveys to be able to actually have occupancy as well as filling the space with the equipment and beds,” Casad said, declining to disclose the project’s cost.

Mike McAlister, regional vice president with Select Medical, said project work is on pace for a planned Jan. 27 opening.

“It’s progressing well. We’re excited how it’s coming along,” he said.

In consolidation
The hospital will serve as a consolidation of rehabilitation units CoxHealth and Select Medical operate in the Ozarks, officials say. Discussions about the partnership began in early 2022, according to past reporting.

Select Specialty Hospital currently operates a long-term acute care hospital facility in Springfield, at 1630 E. Primrose St., which it opened in early 2008, according to SBJ archives. McAlister said it launched its 16-bed acute rehab unit – comprising nearly 12,000 square feet – in the building in early 2023.

CoxHealth currently has 34 beds at the Meyer Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Hospital inpatient unit in Springfield and an additional 13 beds in the acute rehabilitation unit at Cox Medical Center Branson, according to health care system officials.

“The two rehab units that CoxHealth operates today and the one unit that Select Medical operates today are consolidating into this one 63-bed, state-of-the-art hospital. So, we’re not increasing beds in the community,” McAlister said in an August 2024 SBJ interview.

Casad said the property and building is owned by CMC Ozarks Rehabilitation LLC, which serves as the name of the joint venture between CoxHealth and Select Medical.

Casad said the intention for taking three units and relocating them to one facility is to have more efficient staffing and provider coverage.

“We’re able to consolidate into a single location and really be able to offer a great new facility with all private beds and then continue to have the expertise and technology in the new space,” she said.

While not boosting the health systems’ rehab presence in the Springfield area, McAlister said the facility maintains the existing bed count and places services all under one roof.

“Really, the benefit of consolidating and partnering with a health system like CoxHealth is to gain some physician collaboration, some efficiencies from a staffing perspective and leverage those synergies and opportunities,” he said.

Select Medical is expected to operate the rehab hospital as the managing partner, with officials noting the partnership will be structured as a 51-49 relationship, according to past SBJ reporting.

Casad said the hospital administrator will report to a board of directors composed of CoxHealth and Select Medical representatives. While the board and hospital leadership are determined, officials say they are not ready to announce those decisions until closer to opening day.

Staffing activity
As for staffing, Casad said there will be a total of 120 full-time equivalent positions at the hospital upon its opening. Among those who will work in the facility are physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, recreational therapists and dietitians, as well as business operations staff, such as admissions, human resources, finance, medical records and plant operations.

“We have staff members from both CoxHealth and Select’s current locations that have opted to move over and work for the joint venture,” she said. “We also will be having some positions posted for additional staff.”

McAlister said he estimates around 90% of the Cox Rehabilitation Hospital staff will transfer from existing units of the two health systems.

“I think almost every single person has now landed either at the joint venture or within their new role that they’ll take on at Cox,” Casad said.

Staff size will likely increase as patient volume grows, McAlister said.

“There’s a ramp up with opening a new hospital,” he said. “While it’s 63 beds, we go through various inspections and licensure surveys and provider (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) surveys and so forth. So, our staffing will build as we complete those and start to take care of more patients.”

Both Casad and McAlister say how existing rehab unit spaces in the trio of CoxHealth and Select Medical facilities will be utilized once the new hospital opens remains under consideration.

“We are currently doing a master facilities planning project,” Casad said. “We expect that we’ll know more in the coming months but at this point we have not determined how that space will be used.”

Casad said she’s excited to move into the operational planning of the transition to the hospital as construction nears completion.

“This project has come along very quickly, so I’ve been really impressed with the teams that have been building the facility and how quickly the contractors and subcontractors have been able to complete the work,” she said.