North Alabama Medical Center
North Alabama Medical Center (NAMC), part of Lifepoint Health, opened in 2018 as the replacement facility for Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital. The modern 263-bed acute care hospital, together with its sister hospital, North Alabama Shoals Hospital, serves residents in Florence, Muscle Shoals and across northwest Alabama.
NAMC has more than 200 physicians on staff, representing more than 40 specialty areas of medicine, including emergency services; open-heart surgery and other advanced cardiovascular services; women’s and children’s services; and imaging and surgical services. The facility is a Level III trauma center, an accredited chest pain center and the area’s only designated primary stroke center.
In July, NAMC launched its newest Graduate Medical Education (GME) initiative, the Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship. The three-year program is designed to provide clinical training that focuses on complex lung diseases and the management of critically ill patients in the Intensive Care Unit. The new fellowship expands NAMC’s existing GME department, which includes a three-year internal medicine residency program that has operated since 2020 and a four-year psychiatry residency program that launched in 2023.
North Alabama Shoals Hospital
Founded in 1968, North Alabama Shoals Hospital is a 198-bed, Joint Commission-accredited acute care hospital serving Muscle Shoals and the surrounding communities as part of the North Alabama Market and Lifepoint Health. The hospital’s comprehensive range of services includes emergency care, medical and surgical inpatient services, outpatient surgery, behavioral health and medically managed substance and alcohol detoxification. North Alabama Shoals Hospital also is home to the region’s only acute inpatient rehabilitation facility, the J.W. Sommer Rehabilitation Unit, as well as the Shoals Senior Care Center, the area’s only dedicated geriatric psychiatric unit.
Early this year, the hospital launched a robotic-assisted surgery program using the Intuitive Surgical da Vinci Xi System and completed its first robotic-assisted surgery procedure on Feb. 13.
Helen Keller Hospital
Helen Keller Hospital in Sheffield has served residents of Colbert County for more than 100 years and became part of the Huntsville Hospital Health System in 2014. The 185-bed, Joint Commission-certified facility has more than 150 physicians and more than 1,000 employees, making it one of the largest employers in the county.
Among its accolades are the Center of Distinction Award for the Keller Wound Healing Center from Healogics, designated Blue Distinction+ for knee and hip replacement and maternity care by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama, and Joint Commission certification for its sepsis treatment program.
In July 2025, the hospital launched a new rapid-deployment mobile medical unit to support high-acuity patient care in a variety of situations, including large accidents and severe weather events. It also serves as a standby first-aid station. The unit’s care capacity is equivalent to four ambulances with space for multiple patients, vital-sign monitors, oxygen and supplies for up to 10 critical cases.
This article appears in the October 2026 issue of Business Alabama.
