East Alabama Medical Center Opelika
East Alabama Medical Center, in Opelika, is part of East Alabama Health, along with a second facility in Chambers County.
East Alabama Health maintains 417 licensed patient beds across the organization, with 314 beds at the East Alabama Medical Center.
Besides its hospitals, East Alabama Health also operates a cardiology practice, Pinnacle Cardiovascular Associates in Opelika. The practice provides patients with general cardiovascular and electrophysiology care. In addition to the cardiology practice, patients with urgent cardiovascular concerns can visit the practice’s walk-in clinic.
Another East Alabama Health facility is the Spencer Cancer Center in Opelika, where oncologists and other health care providers offer diagnostic services as well as chemotherapy, radiation, infusion, hematology and other treatments.
East Alabama Medical Center is undergoing a $40Â million expansion of its critical care tower. The expansion will add 30 critical care beds to the facility and is scheduled to open in spring 2026.
East Alabama also is building a new center for mental health to be renamed East Alabama Medical Center North. The new, 54,000-square-foot facility in Opelika is projected to open in January 2026 and will include 40 private inpatient beds, including 10 adult male and 10 adult female beds, as well as 11 short-term and nine long-term adolescent beds. Medical Center North also will house the new psychiatry residency program and East Alabama Psychiatric Services.
East Alabama Health facilities include the Auburn Medical Pavilion in the Auburn University Research Park, which holds a freestanding emergency department, ambulatory surgery center, outpatient imaging and a Breast Health Center.
East Alabama Medical Center made Newsweek magazine’s 2025 list of America’s Best-In-State Hospitals. And, for a second year in a row, the hospital made the magazine’s America’s Best Maternity Hospitals list.
The hospital’s maternity services include a birth navigator service, childbirth classes and a breastfeeding support group.
This year, East Alabama Medical Center acquired the da Vinci 5 surgical system, a next-gen robotic technology for minimally invasive surgeries.
In addition, the Medical Center’s cardiac rehab program earned an American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation certification this year for its work enhancing patients’ quality of life by improving the standards of care.
Another focus of East Alabama Health is cancer research. This year, researchers from East Alabama Health and Tuskegee University’s Center for Biomedical Research are teaming up to study and treat a variety of cancers.
Oncologists, hematologists, pathologists and other physicians from the hospital will collaborate with researchers from Tuskegee University to study diagnostic methods for different types of cancer and possible new treatments.
Specifically, the group will investigate diagnostic methods for various forms of cancer such as liquid and tissue biopsies, as well as innovative treatment methods for cancers like breast cancer, gynecologic cancer and prostate cancer.
Besides research, East Alabama Health runs the Opelika Neighborhood Mobile Wellness Clinic, a bus that brings basic health care to underserved communities. The Mobile Wellness Clinic is made possible through a partnership among East Alabama Health, the city of Opelika and the Casey Family Foundation.
East Alabama Health made the 2025 Becker’s Hospital Review’s 150 Top Places to Work in Healthcare list recently. The magazine cited the hospital system for its benefits package, on-site childcare, flexible work options, tuition reimbursement and development programs such as a nurse residency program and an apprenticeship pathway.
Jack Hughston Memorial Hospital
Jack Hughston Memorial Hospital, in Phenix City, is part of a network of Hughston Clinic health care facilities in Alabama and Georgia that lists a range of services such as general and advanced orthopedic care, sports medicine, joint replacement, rehabilitation, diagnostic imaging and workers’ compensation services.
The hospital also offers 24-hour emergency room care and surgery services and maintains 70 private patient beds.
Providers at the hospital treat a wide range of conditions such as sports and trauma-related injuries and ailments due to degenerative and congenital disease.
This year, Jack Hughston Memorial announced that it would begin offering surgeries using the Mako Robotic-Arm Surgery System.
Over the years, Jack Hughston Memorial has captured high rankings and awards for its medical services. In 2024, the hospital won the Outstanding Patient Experience award from Healthgrades.
Moreover, Money.com ranked the hospital at No. 6 in the nation this year for orthopedic surgery care, and Healthgrades has selected Jack Hughston for America’s 100 Best Orthopedic Surgery and America’s 100 Best Joint Replacement lists every year since 2012. Healthgrades also has recognized the hospital for excellence in orthopedic surgery and joint replacement for 14 years straight.
Rehabilitation Hospital of Phenix City
The health providers at Rehabilitation Hospital of Phenix City treat patients recovering from conditions such as stroke, spinal cord injuries, hip fractures, joint replacements, amputations and neurological conditions like traumatic brain injuries.
The 58-bed Rehabilitation Hospital is part of a national network of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals owned and operated by Encompass Health.
It is accredited by the Joint Commission and holds certifications from the commission for stroke, brain injury, amputee and hip fracture rehabilitation.
The Central Alabama VA Medical Center
Established in 1923, the original Tuskegee Veterans Administration Medical Center opened to provide care for African American veterans in the racially segregated South after WWI.
In 1997, the Tuskegee VA Medical Center merged with the Montgomery VA Medical Center to form the Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System.
Today, the Central Alabama VA Medical Center–Tuskegee offers primary and specialty health services. These include mental health care, women’s health services, vision care, podiatry and orthopedics, and specialty areas such as cardiology, gastroenterology, gynecology, oncology, ophthalmology, nephrology, surgery and urology.
Central Alabama VA Medical Center–Tuskegee holds accreditations from The Joint Commission, the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities and the Commission on Accreditation of the American Psychological Association.
This article appears in the December 2025 issue of Business Alabama.
