Hospital will also house region’s first brain injury unit
SPRINGFIELD – The State’s first inpatient rehabilitation hospital will be coming to Springfield in 2026. This is not the first time hospitals have had rehabilitation units, but this will be the first standalone hospital in Oregon solely dedicated to inpatient rehabilitation.
PeaceHealth and Lifepoint Rehabilitation received regulatory approval to construct a 67,000-square-foot inpatient rehabilitation hospital in Springfield, which will be located on International Way next to PeaceHealth’s RiverBend Annex.
According to Alicia Beymer, chief administrative officer at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend, construction on the facility is planned for this October, and the rehabilitation hospital is expected to open in January 2026. It will feature 42 inpatient beds with additional space for future expansion as well as the region’s first brain injury unit.
“We are very excited to bring new and expanded inpatient rehabilitation services to Lane County,” Beymer said. “Our current rehabilitation unit inside RiverBend is rated one of the best on the West Coast, and this new standalone facility will take that already outstanding care to another level.”
PeaceHealth and Lifepoint Rehabilitation’s new inpatient rehabilitation hospital is set to open its doors in 2026.
The hospital received a Certificate of Need from the Oregon Health Authority (OHA), which Beymer said was a “significant milestone.” A Certificate of Need is required under ORS prior to development. It is a way for OHA to evaluate if the proposed facility or service is actually needed to discourage unnecessary investment in unneeded facilities and services.
“Achieving this milestone of receiving the Certificate of Need was really the most critical milestone of this project,” Beymer said. “We are the first in the state of Oregon to receive a Certificate of Need for an inpatient rehab hospital. What distinguishes this is being able to have that level of care in this state.
“The Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace who came here were pioneers in many ways, working always forward to what was the next step? What was the next vision? So this really does mean being a pioneer and continuing that mission forward. That’s what this is all about: our mission and our values and our commitment to providing exceptional, compassionate, healing care.”
The hospital will provide intensive nursing, physical, occupational, and speech pathology services for adults recovering from conditions such as stroke, neurological disease, brain or spinal injury, and other debilitating illnesses or injuries. A news release from PeaceHealth stated that “this expansion 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.”
“One of the other benefits is that it’s very close to the I-5 corridor and very close to RiverBend, so it makes it easy for patients’ families who are coming to visit, especially if it’s long distance or something to be able to come just straight off the I-5 corridor,” Beymer said.
The new facility will expand therapies and upgrade equipment. Of note are: a mock apartment, a car to practice entering and exiting, a kitchen for cooking, exoskeleton equipment, and an outdoor therapy area. This is a way to expose patients back into what they will see when they re-enter the community.
“It’s really important to us that they feel confident when they’re leaving our environment,” Beymer said.
The new inpatient rehabilitation hospital will feature a car which patients can use to practice entering and exiting. This is so the patients can acclimate faster to the real world after leaving the hospital.
It will be majority owned by PeaceHealth through a joint venture board of directors with Lifepoint Rehabilitation, and it will join Lifepoint Rehabilitation’s growing network of more than 40 inpatient rehabilitation facilities across the country.
“We are pleased to see this project move forward with the approval of the Oregon Health Authority,” said David Stark, chief operating officer, Lifepoint Rehabilitation. “This is further confirmation of the community’s need for increased access to specialized rehabilitation care, and we look forward to beginning construction in partnership with PeaceHealth. We know that expanding capacity for inpatient rehabilitation care is vital to our mission of making communities healthier, and we look forward to the day we welcome patients to this new hospital.”
