By TIFFANY ECKERT/KLCC News
SPRINGFIELD — PeaceHealth has received the green light from the Oregon Health Authority to construct a 67,000-square foot rehabilitation hospital in Springfield. The facility will include the region’s first brain injury unit.
The new inpatient rehab hospital will provide physical, speech and occupational therapies for people who’ve experienced a catastrophic medical event, such as car accident or stroke.
PeaceHealth will partner with LifePoint Rehabilitation to build and operate the sprawling facility. It’s estimated to cost $72 million. The new hospital will be majority owned by PeaceHealth.
Sacred Heart Medical Center’s Chief Administrative Officer Alicia Beymer explained the community impact of the new rehab hospital.
“Not only will the 27 beds that we have here at RiverBend be absorbed in the new facility, but we’ll also add another 15 beds. This inpatient rehab, facility hospital-level care will also include a traumatic brain injury unit which we do not have in this region.”
The rehab hospital will be located on International Way next to the RiverBend Annex. Groundbreaking is planned for this fall with official opening in January 2026.
PeaceHealth closed the University District hospital in Eugene last December moving 27 inpatient rehab beds to the Medical Center at RiverBend. Those beds will continue to operate until the new rehab hospital is completed.
Beymer said the process to receive regulatory approval through a certificate of need with OHA started in March 2023. Plans for a new rehab hospital were underway before the University District hospital closure announcement was made, she said.
In addition to size, the new facility will expand therapies and upgrade equipment — such as a mock apartment, a car to practice entering and exiting, a kitchen for cooking, exoskeleton equipment, and an outdoor therapy area.
Beymer said the new facility will increase access to inpatient rehabilitation services in the region, addressing a significant community need and allowing patients to stay closer to home for care.
“It’s location just off the I-5 corridor makes it accessible for family and friends visiting patients,” she said.
Lifepoint Rehabilitation will manage the day-to-day operations of the facility.
