Through a long-standing clinical partnership with United Surgical Partners International (USPI) and Tennessee Orthopedic Alliance (TOA), Ascension Saint Thomas is moving ahead with investment in Rutherford County by developing a joint-venture Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) in Murfreesboro's Westlawn community. Certificate of Need approval for the project was granted unanimously on June 24 by the Tennessee Health Services and Development Agency.

The new Westlawn ASC will offer two specialties: orthopedics and pain management. It will be situated inside TOA's new medical office building, currently under development at the west corner of Veterans Parkway and Shores Road. The 13,000-square foot ASC will provide patients with a single location for all outpatient orthopedic needs, including: physician office visits, orthopedic-specific urgent care, imaging studies, surgery and rehabilitation. This project is the first of its kind in Rutherford County.

"By strategically shifting a variety of procedures from a hospital setting to an ambulatory surgery center, TOA, USPI and Ascension Saint Thomas are creating lower-cost options for the community we are privileged to serve," said Gordon Ferguson, president and CEO, Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford.

Facility development will begin this year and is expected to take approximately 14 months. The project is estimated at $13 million.

In Other Ascension News: Major Midtown Enhancements Announced

Ascension Saint Thomas has announced an overall campus masterplan to enhance clinical program development and access to care at Ascension Saint Thomas Midtown. Since 2017, Ascension Saint Thomas has researched, planned and developed a 10-year Master Facility Plan (MFP) to make necessary improvements to Midtown's large, urban campus. Taking a phased approach, the project launch is set to begin this year.

The MFP is designed to enhance access through the reconfiguration of the campus and simplification of parking and pedestrian access with dedicated parking, valet, patient welcome/registration and family spaces in a quieter, hotel-style environment. The masterplan will also increase community integration with a unique approach to urban design that incorporates nature into the campus landscape, as well as an enhanced experience for patients, clinicians and associates with a "hospital within a hospital" model, offering an innovative boutique experience. In the era of COVID-19, the ambitious plan includes enhancing features like the location of entrances, the way air flows through the facility and dedicated entry points to more easily screen patients and stop the spread of infections inside the hospital.

The timeline of the clinical program development and enhancements across Ascension Saint Thomas Midtown's campus will include a new OB emergency department, new surgery center for women and expansions to the cancer center in 2020. Next year is slated for the previously announced new rehabilitation hospital with a new Spine Institute, surgery and critical care tower and the Cancer Center 'hospital within a hospital' coming in 2022. A new entrance to the Women's Hospital and new medical office building are slated for 2023.

Gresham Smith will be the architectural design firm for the Surgery and Critical Care Tower, new entrance for the Women's Hospital and the new Medical Office Building. Turner Construction Company will provide general management and construction.