Renovated hospital in Tucker to reopen

Emory Healthcare this month will reopen the former Northlake Medical Center in Tucker as a hospital focusing on orthopedic and spinal care.

After sinking $16 million into renovations to the former HCA hospital, Emory seeks to meet increased patient demand for orthopedic care.

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“With the rise of the baby boom population and the growth of population in metro Atlanta, we expect the demand to continue to grow for orthopedic services,” Emory Healthcare spokesman Lance Skelly said Friday.

Emory projects a 25 percent increase in demand for inpatient orthopedic services over the next 10 years, with the rise of knee and hip replacements and spinal surgeries, Skelly said.

Northlake Medical Center closed in December 2006. A month later Emory bought it from its owner, Nashville-based HCA, for $17 million. “We have basically renovated the entire hospital,” Skelly said.

The new hospital, called Emory University Orthopaedics & Spine Hospital, will open Sept. 16. It will not have an emergency room.

Orthopedics is one of the fastest-growing businesses for hospitals and physician groups, said Atlanta-based health-care consultant Peggy Cella, of consulting firm Noblis. About 10 percent of hospital admissions are for orthopedics, she said.

“It’s a competitive market,” Cella said, with generally good coverage through private insurance and Medicare, the government program for people 65 and older and the disabled. “It pays well [for hospitals], and it’s a large-volume business.”

The orthopedic and spinal surgery now done at Emory University Hospital will transfer to the new facility, a move that will open up operating room space at the Clifton Road facility. “We’re at total capacity virtually every day,” Skelly said.

The Tucker facility, at Lawrenceville Highway and I-285, will have some general medical beds, which will also relieve some crowding at Emory Hospital.