University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System
Patients across the Southeast and beyond seek out comprehensive medical care provided by UAB Health System, an academic medical center based in Birmingham.
UAB Health System made the U.S News & World Report national rankings in several specialty areas — No. 11 in rheumatology; No. 28 in obstetrics and gynecology; No. 14 in ear, nose and throat; No. 42 in neurology and neurosurgery; and No. 49 in geriatrics. The hospital itself is ranked No. 1 in the state.
Last November, UAB Health System grew even bigger with the acquisition of the Ascension St. Vincent’s Health System in central Alabama in a deal worth $450 million. The purchase included Ascension St. Vincent’s hospitals and clinics in Jefferson County as well as in Blount, St. Clair and Chilton counties, and the facilities are now UAB St. Vincent’s.
The UAB Health System today has more than 3,100 licensed beds among 15 owned, affiliate and network entities.
In August, UAB opened a new $156.7Â million inpatient rehabilitation pavilion. The 134-bed facility features therapy gyms for patients in need of neurorehabilitation care, including those suffering from brain and spinal cord injuries and stroke. The new rehabilitation pavilion also houses the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU), where medical staff monitor and treat patients with seizure disorders.
This summer, health care providers from UAB Health System delivered medical services at the 2025 World Police & Fire Games held in Birmingham. More than 200 medical personnel volunteers dispensed on-site sports medicine care and emergency services at 22 venues.
In April, Katelin Holmes, D.O., a UAB clinical assistant professor in the Division of Breast and Endocrine Surgery and breast surgeon at Infirmary Health in Mobile, performed the nation’s first laparoscopic, nipple-sparing mastectomy approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
In other news, this year the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma reverified UAB Hospital as a Level I adult trauma center. UAB first obtained the designation in 1999 and is the only one in Alabama to have that designation.
Last year, the American Heart Association honored UAB with the Get With The Guidelines – Stroke Gold Plus quality achievement award for seeing that stroke patients are provided treatments that meet the latest research-based guidelines. In addition, the Heart Association also named UAB Hospital to its Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll.
Children’s of Alabama
Children’s of Alabama is a private, not-for-profit medical center and the only children’s health system in the state. It is also a teaching hospital for pediatric medicine students and those in residency programs.
For 15 straight years, U.S. News & World Report has ranked Children’s of Alabama as one of the Best Children’s Hospitals in the nation and the Best Hospital for Children in Alabama.
This year, Children’s of Alabama expanded its Inpatient Behavioral Health Service. The new space includes 11 inpatient beds for youngsters ages 12 to 18 and provides evidence-based dialectical and other behavioral therapy interventions.
Grandview Medical Center
Located along Jefferson County’s 280 Corridor, Grandview Medical Center is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.
Grandview offers emergency services as well as cardiac care, orthopedics, women’s health services and more.
Grandview recently completed a $10 million expansion of its women’s services department, with 10 new post-partum rooms, nurses’ station and eight new labor and delivery suites.
Baptist Health
In Jefferson County, Brookwood Baptist Medical Center and Princeton Baptist Medical Center got new names this year: Baptist Health Brookwood and Baptist Health Princeton. The name changes occurred after Orlando Health, in a $910 million deal, bought a 70% stake in five Brookwood Baptist Health hospitals in Alabama from the for-profit Tenet Healthcare.
With the purchase of the two hospitals in Jefferson County, Orlando Health gained a 595-bed comprehensive health care facility at Baptist Health Brookwood in Homewood and 505 patient beds at Baptist Health Princeton in Birmingham.
Baptist Health Brookwood services include minimally invasive procedures, as well as stroke and cardiovascular services, rehabilitation, bariatrics and surgical services. In addition, the Women’s Center offers labor and delivery services and a NICU unit.
Baptist Health Princeton Hospital provides emergency services, cardiovascular care, women services, COPD care, a sleep center and even a certified primary stroke center.
UAB Medical West
An affiliate of the UAB Health System, UAB Medical West first opened its doors in 1964. Last August UAB Medical West debuted its new 412,000-square-foot, nine-story hospital on 46 acres in Bessemer.
The new acute-care hospital has 200 beds, a dozen operating rooms, a 30-exam-room emergency department, additional intensive care beds and a surgical suite. It is also home to a seven-story, 127,000-square-foot medical office building.
Besides the hospital, UAB Medical West operates several health centers across west Alabama. They include two in Jefferson County: a primary care center in Hueytown and a primary and specialty care center in Hoover.
Birmingham Veterans Administration Health Care System
Veterans pursuing health care at the Birmingham VA Medical Center on the city’s south side can access a range of services there, from a visit with a primary care doctor to getting treatment from specialists in areas such as oncology, cardiology, neurology and mental health.
Patients also can visit the various VA health clinics scattered across the county. The clinics include the Birmingham VA Clinic, which is just blocks away from the medical center, and the Bessemer VA Clinic, which provides outpatient primary care services, eye care and mental health services.
The Birmingham East VA clinic also offers treatment for addiction, PTSD, military sexual trauma as well as suicide prevention and behavioral health care.
Last year, the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association named the Birmingham VA Health Care System as a Center of Excellence, a designation given to clinics that provide compassionate, efficient and supportive care to patients with ALS.
The Birmingham VA is one of only nine VA centers in the United States to achieve the honor.
Cooper Green Mercy Health Services Authority
The Cooper Green Mercy Health Services Authority, an affiliate of the UAB Health System, opened its new ambulatory outpatient clinic last fall.
The five-story, 211,000-square-foot Cooper Green Mercy Health, open since last December, provides medical services such as primary and urgent care, radiology and oncology. It is also home to several specialty clinics and a pharmacy.
Cooper Green Mercy Health operates under an agreement between the UAB Health System and Jefferson County.
Encompass Health Lakeshore Rehabilitation Hospital
The health care teams at Encompass Health Lakeshore in Homewood provide rehabilitation care for patients recovering from hip fractures, joint replacements, brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, stroke, amputations, and other orthopedic and neurological disorders and conditions.
This article appears in the October 2025 issue of Business Alabama.
