DCH Health System
The DCH Health System operates two acute care hospitals in Tuscaloosa County: DCH Regional Medical Center and Northport Medical Center, as well as a third hospital, Fayette Medical Center, in Fayette County.
From its 2024 data, the DCH Health System manages 848 acute care beds, including 583 at DCH Regional Medical Center and 204 at DCH Northport. In addition, the health system maintains several outpatient physician practices across the region.
The health system offers patients a Level III trauma center and a range of specialties and services such as cardiology, surgical services and minimally invasive cardiac surgery, diagnostic imaging, orthopedics and rehabilitative services, just to name a few.
The DCH Health System also operates the Lewis and Faye Manderson Cancer Center, with the most advanced equipment available and a range of treatment services, from medical and radiation oncology to clinical trials and genetic testing.
In October 2024, Rachel Anderson joined DCH Health System as its new vice president of supply chain. Before joining the health system, Anderson worked as the corporate director of supply chain for Baptist Health in Montgomery.
In January 2025, the Alabama Perinatal Quality Collaborative placed DCH Regional Medical Center and Northport Medical Center on its honor roll for the facilities’ attention to neonatal hypothermia prevention and obstetric hemorrhage initiatives.
Also in January, DCH Regional Medical Center completed construction of a $30 million parking deck. The parking deck, located on the south end of the hospital’s campus, opened to patients and visitors in January. The deck is four levels with 864 spaces.
The following month, DCH Health System promoted Daniel Conville to vice president of physician practice operations. He previously served as the corporate director of physician services and project manager for alternative payment models.
Then in March, DCH Health System reached a new contract deal with United Healthcare. The deal allows DCH hospitals to remain in-network for United Healthcare members enrolled in Commercial and Exchange plans.
Tuscaloosa Veterans Affairs Medical Center
The Tuscaloosa Veterans Affairs Medical Center provides primary care as well as long-term health and mental health care to eligible veterans in the region.
Services include primary care, geriatrics, women veterans care, prosthetics, rehabilitation, physical and occupational therapy, mental health care and suicide prevention.
The Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center also is a teaching hospital with residencies and internships across the medical specialties, as well as pharmacy, accounting, business administration and social work internships.
The Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center operates with approximately 134 community living beds, 128 domiciliary beds, 43 psychiatry beds and 12 compensated work therapy beds.
In FY 2022, the VA Medical Center handled 189,782 outpatient visits and 15,376 unique patients.
University Medical Center
University Medical Center is a primary health care provider with clinics across West Alabama, including Tuscaloosa and Northport. It is an operation of the University of Alabama College of Community Health Sciences with clinics that provide family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics and other specialties such as obstetrics and gynecology, sports medicine and psychiatry and behavioral health.
The Medical Center reported 102,602 patient visits at its six locations in 2024.
Mental Health Facilities
Also in Tuscaloosa County, the Alabama Department of Mental Health owns three mental health facilities that provide inpatient psychiatric services for adults — Bryce Hospital, Mary Starke Harper Geriatric Psychiatry Center and Taylor Hardin Secure Medical Facility.
Established in 1861, Bryce Hospital provides adult patients with inpatient psychiatric services such as individual and group therapy, music therapy, medication and medication counseling, patient education and recovery and community placement services.
The Mary Starke Harper Geriatric Psychiatry Center in Tuscaloosa offers inpatient psychiatric services for adults aged 65 and older.
And the Taylor Hardin Secure Medical Facility is the Alabama Department of Mental Health’s only maximum-security forensic facility. The facility performs psychiatric evaluations and treatment for incarcerated individuals and forensic evaluations for the criminal courts in Alabama.
This article appears in the September 2025 issue of Business Alabama.
