Ascension Saint Thomas has beaten out Vanderbilt University Medical Center in securing state approval to build Murfreesboro's next hospital. 

The Tennessee Health Services and Development Agency has approved Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital’s plans to build a $25 million, 32,000-square-foot facility at the intersection of Veterans Parkway and Shores Road. The project will include an emergency room, eight inpatient beds, imagining and lab services and medical office space and was favored over VUMC’s proposal to build a facility five times the size in the same area.