The prognosis is positive at Middle Tennessee Medical Center, which opened a brand new hospital in late 2010 and has already embarked on another large construction project in 2011.

In October 2010, MTMC opened a seven-story, $283 million hospital on Medical Center Parkway off Interstate 24 in Murfreesboro’s growing Gateway development. The Gateway development is a burgeoning 400-acre site that includes Class A office space, good proximity to major retail development and access to the city’s Stones River Greenway system.

The new, 600,000-square-foot hospital is four times larger than what MTMC had been occupying on North Highland Avenue since it was founded in 1927.

"MTMC has been talking about building a new hospital since 1998,” says Gordon Ferguson, president and CEO of Middle Tennessee Medical Center. “We’ve been at our old facility for 83 years and had several additions, but it got to a point where we were running out of space.”

Big Private Rooms

Planning for the new hospital was meticulous and included several visits to medical centers across the country to gather the best ideas in design and function. The result is a number of high-tech and comfortable amenities that include 286 identical large private patient rooms. The spacious rooms were created to provide separate areas for the patient, caregiver and family, with the family area outfitted with a sofa bed and a separate TV.

"We are also using artwork from Tennessee artists, and it's all nature scenes,” says Michael Bratton, MTMC vice president of Patient Care Services. “That's important from a patient care standpoint, because nature scenes have been shown to decrease patient stress levels."

200 More Staffers

The hospital was also built with sustainability in mind, and construction waste was reduced by 30 percent when compared with similar projects. One of the green details is the hospital roof’s ability to reflect heat, so it takes less energy to cool the building.

Ferguson is also pleased that the new and larger hospital has allowed Middle Tennessee Medical Center to increase its staff.

“Being able to expand our staff by 200 nurses and clinicians is one thing we're excited about," he says. “Overall, the hospital is a much more quiet, efficient and healing environment.”

Named for Elizabeth

And now in 2011, MTMC is constructing a $24 million building on the Gateway campus that will eventually house its cancer center and other medical offices. The four-story structure is scheduled to open in late 2011 and will be able to accommodate 15 tenants.

The building will be called Seton Medical Office, named after Elizabeth Ann Seton who was the first U.S.-born canonized saint in the Roman Catholic Church.

“Our regional cancer center (currently at the Bell Street Center) will be occupying the first floor and will have two new linear accelerators,” Ferguson says.

Many Tenants Already

Other tenants scheduled to move into the new 112,434-square-foot building in late 2011 include Murfreesboro Diagnostic Imaging, MidState Radiology, Saint Thomas Heart at MTMC, Tennessee Oncology, The Wellness Center at MTMC, The Wound Care Center at MTMC and the MTMC Bariatric Center.

Today, Middle Tennessee Medical Center admits approximately 12,000 patients each year and oversees 81,000 outpatient procedures. In addition, there are 67,000 annual emergency room visits, 2,500 babies delivered and more than 7,500 surgeries. Services at MTMC include cancer care, cardiac care, dermatology, diabetes, neurology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, plastic surgery and weight loss.