Trends in the greater Nashville region and throughout the health care industry that influence how people access care are reflected in Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s growth strategy, leaders said during the Spring Leadership Assembly.
Recent expansions in locations, capacity and business lines underscore how the Medical Center is navigating fast-paced population growth and the financial headwinds facing health systems across the country.
“VUMC is defining its future by growing to build economic resilience, while also meeting the needs of our region and the entire nation. Our manner of growth is responsible: We build new programs the Vanderbilt way, with extraordinary quality, incorporating the best of our science and innovation. We are not just sitting back and responding to change; we are defining the future of health care,” said Jeff Balser, MD, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of VUMC and Dean of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
Strengthening Local Communities
Across the country rural and community hospitals have struggled for years, and Tennesseans who live in smaller towns or rural areas have been among those most impacted in the U.S.
VUMC’s expansion into surrounding counties is strengthening vital community health care networks. The recent recognition of Vanderbilt Wilson County Hospital (VWCH) from the LeapFrog Group as a top general hospital illustrates the importance of deploying VUMC’s expertise and resources into community hospitals, Balser said.
“VWCH needed an infusion of clinicians, programs and technology. Today we are keeping patients in that region, and we are sending some patients to VWCH who otherwise would have been transferred to the Nashville campus. We have added the doctors, nurses and other personnel. It now has a great reputation and is serving our system and the community well,” said C. Wright Pinson, MBA, MD, Deputy CEO and Chief Health System Officer.
The purchase of Vanderbilt Bedford Hospital and Vanderbilt Tullahoma-Harton Hospital in 2021 added beds and gave VUMC additional opportunities to keep patients closer to their homes, said Pinson.
“Nashville Phenomenon”
Nashville is one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the country, and the region’s sustained growth over the last decade means more people who need health care. People are traveling to VUMC from across the mid-South and further afield.
“VUMC is continuing to grow, in a strategic and responsible way, to succeed in this new environment. Beyond finances, there are some drivers of growth that come from our core mission of making health care personal: people moving into the Southeast, and increasing awareness about VUMC’s specialties, such as transplantation,” said Balser.
The integration of regional hospitals into the hospital system caring for lower acuity patients helps meet the high demand for specialty and surgical services at the Nashville campus, said Pinson. The new Vanderbilt University Hospital tower under construction and the coming addition of two floors at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt are also vital pieces to meeting demand.
“We’ve dispersed some of those volumes and services throughout our Vanderbilt Health footprint. The new tower will add 11 new operating rooms and procedure rooms, 180 beds, and will have shelled floors for further beds in the future. This will help to decompress the VUH Emergency Department and provide much-needed space for high-acuity patients in cardiac services, neuroscience services, surgical and other ICU services,” said Pinson.
Meeting Business Needs
VUMC is also diversifying how it delivers health care by helping other health care companies with services, such as Vanderbilt Pharmacy and Vanderbilt Medical Laboratories.
Vanderbilt Pharmacy, one of the largest specialty pharmacy programs in the country, continues to expand and now serves VUMC’s hospitals, clinics and the Vanderbilt Health Affiliated Network.
The latest example of expansion to meet health care needs in the area is the opening of the brand new 110,000-square-foot clinical laboratory in MetroCenter that positions VUMC to expand its lab services to outside clients, particularly in specialized tests like genomics.
“At VUMC we are building programs that meet closely related needs in health care. These programs are developing the scale to not only serve us, but to support other medical centers,” said Balser. “Adding this diversity to our revenue streams builds economic resilience, assuring our future.”
