Growth, resilience and care: Vanderbilt Health’s priorities for 2026

Summary: Vanderbilt Health is growing fast in 2026! They are opening new places for patients in Middle Tennessee so everyone gets top-notch care close to home. To help with long emergency room waits, they are starting a new Acute Care Center for urgent, but not life-threatening, needs.

They are also using cool new technology to make patient visits smoother. Soon, a multilingual virtual helper named Vivien will guide patients and take vital signs using screens. Dr. Jeff Balser, the CEO who is retiring at the end of 2026, says they want to use this AI tech to help more people, not to replace their workers. They are also teaming up with big companies to find better ways to treat cancer, heart problems, and kidney disease. Through all this growth, they want to keep their caring culture strong for their 10,000 nurses and all their staff.

For more details, see vumc at news.vumc.org/2026/05/06/growth-resilience-and-care-vanderbilt-healths-priorities-for-2026/ (opens in new tab)