How Vanderbilt and HCA are keeping up with health care as Wilson County population soars

Wilson County’s continued growth is coinciding with higher patient volumes at health care facilities.

Major health care providers in the area — HCA Healthcare and Vanderbilt University Medical Center — are feeling the shift.

Back in 2018, TriStar Mt. Juliet ER opened on Summit Boulevard. The medical facility is experiencing all-time highs in patient volume this year, according to representatives. The free-standing emergency room facility also sits next to nearly 27 acres of land HCA Healthcare purchased just over a year ago.

Vanderbilt Wilson County Hospital in Lebanon has watched its patient counts more than double. Meanwhile, full-time employee hires increased at nearly the same rate as 2019 — when Vanderbilt University Medical Center took over operations from Tennova Healthcare.

Vanderbilt also has an ER department.

The increase in Wilson County’s health care presence has brought “high-quality jobs, too,” County Mayor Randall Hutto said.

Wilson County Emergency Management Agency Director Joey Cooper added that another benefit is giving county-based patients a reason to not be transported to Nashville.

However, keeping up with health care will continue to be addressed as growth continues. Wilson County’s population increased 29.6% in a decade (2010-2020), according to the U.S. Census Bureau, reaching more than 147,000 residents. And the latest Census population estimate for Wilson County is more than 158,000, according to the county’s Planning Department.

Will HCA Healthcare expand in Mt. Juliet?

HCA Healthcare is positioned to expand after purchasing 26.63 acres next to TriStar Mt. Juliet ER — a full-service emergency room at 100 Summit Blvd.

The ER building and additional property HCA Healthcare owns are just off the south side of Interstate 40 near Beckwith Road. Golden Bear Gateway on the north side of the interchange.

HCA Healthcare is the parent company of TriStar Mt. Juliet ER, a department of TriStar Summit Medical Center, where patient volume has continued to increase, spokesperson Paul Lindsley said. TriStar Mt. Juliet ER has opened additional rooms and increased the number of nurses and providers at the ER facility.

However, HCA Healthcare has been noncommittal about plans for the additional land and has not approached the city about specific plans.

“I know they bought it for a reason, but they haven’t elaborated on what they plan to do,” Mt. Juliet Mayor James Maness said.

A future TriStar Summit Outpatient Surgery Center is also under construction on Willard Hagan Drive in Lebanon, with an estimated opening in the first quarter of 2024. The facility will offer multiple outpatient surgical procedures.

And in Hermitage, near the western Wilson County border, TriStar Summit recently added a 25-bed observation unit for patients and 175 parking spaces ahead of a $64 million expansion project that broke ground in December. The work will include a three-story tower project that will add nearly 120,000 square feet to expand critical care capacity, the visitors lobby, cafeteria space and infrastructure for future growth.

TriStar Summit also has two free-standing imaging centers and two CareNow Urgent Care Centers in Wilson County.

Will Vanderbilt expand in Lebanon?

The number of daily inpatients at Vanderbilt Wilson County Hospital has risen from 50 to more than 100 since 2019, according to spokesperson Traci Pope. Full-time equivalent employees have increased from 475 to 850.

The Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center at Wilson County medical oncology department will move to the Vanderbilt Health Lebanon building at 1616 W. Main St., which will allow for expansion. The building was included in Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s acquisition of the hospital facility and other related physician clinic operations and outpatient services.

But Vanderbilt is not looking at more further expansion in Lebanon. Not yet.

“The first thing to keep in mind in Wilson County is that people were leaving (the county) for health care and there was a lot of capacity not being used,” Vanderbilt Wilson County Hospital President Scott McCarver said. “We’ve been growing about 20% a year (in patient volume) and we can continue to grow for several more years.”

The Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center at Wilson County adds to the changes the Vanderbilt University Medical Center has made since taking control of the Lebanon campus. Others include:

• A new epilepsy monitoring unit.

• Interventional cardiology brought online and inpatient neurology, expanded women’s health and cancer care.

• The hospital also is now a provisional Level 3 trauma designation that allows for faster and higher levels of critical care by trauma-trained surgeons and anesthesiologists.

• Vanderbilt also has a Children's After-Hours Clinic in Mt. Juliet on North Mt. Juliet Road.

Other medical providers coming to Wilson County

There are other medical providers coming into Wilson County or expanding their presence there.

Hughston Clinic Orthopedics is building a 20,000-square-foot facility in Lebanon on Willard Hagan Road near the TriStar Outpatient Surgery Center just off South Hartmann.

A new Ascension Saint Thomas Urgent Care recently opened in a renovated building on North Mt. Juliet Road in Mt. Juliet.

And work is underway on a Fastpace Health urgent care and physical therapy clinic on Lebanon Road, just east of North Mt. Juliet Road in Mt. Juliet.

Reach Andy Humbles at ahumbles@tennessean.com or 615-726-5939 and on Twitter @ AndyHumbles.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt and HCA scramble to meet Wilson County's health care needs