Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Greenville has finished a $40 million expansion that doubles its bed count from 40 to 80, adding dialysis rooms, bariatric rooms, an expanded gym and a new family courtyard designed to help patients relearn everyday tasks like checking the mail. The hospital held a grand opening from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, and it expects to begin seeing additional patients in October.
The Laurens Road facility has averaged 39 patients a day over the past two years while running on just 40 beds, according to WYFF News 4. Before the expansion, the hospital consistently operated at full capacity with a waiting list that fluctuated between 30 and 50 patients, according to Encompass Health. Some community members were unable to receive care simply because of the hospital's size, per the WYFF report.
Jen Risser, the hospital's chief nursing officer, said the additional beds will help the facility serve more people, per WYFF's reporting. The hospital, which opened at 3372 Laurens Road on August 3, 2021, provides rehabilitation for spinal cord injuries, neurological conditions, strokes and hip replacement recovery, and it has grown to roughly 200 staff members in the five years since it first opened.
New Wing Built Around Real-World Recovery
The expansion includes a new nurse's station, day rooms for patients and staff, and additional rooms each with a window and personal bathroom, the station's report notes. The new family courtyard functions as an extension of the therapy gym, featuring different walking surfaces, sidewalks, curbs, pavement, stairs, ramps, curb cuts and small pebble pathways meant to mimic the terrain patients will face at home.
The courtyard also lets patients practice everyday motions, like attending to bird feeders, reaching into a mailbox, or gardening, before they're discharged. Chris Daughtry, the hospital's director of therapy and operations, said the hospital has begun hiring additional team members ahead of the wing's debut, according to the same account.
Growth Tracks a Booming Senior Population
Greenville County's population grew 8.6% between 2020 and 2024 and is projected to hit 575,000 residents by 2026, with more than 91,000 seniors age 65 and older now making up 17.4% of the local population, according to Encompass Health. That aging demographic represents much of the population requiring rehabilitation after strokes, surgeries and other severe medical events, per the same source. The expansion is projected to create 80 to 90 new healthcare jobs on top of the hospital's baseline workforce of roughly 175 employees, per The Post and Courier.
Hospital leadership has said that doubling rehabilitation capacity to 80 beds will help regional acute care hospitals discharge recovering patients faster, freeing up acute beds and improving patient flow across Upstate medical networks, according to Encompass Health. The South Carolina Department of Public Health approved the project's Certificate of Need application on July 30, 2024, authorizing an addition of more than 36,000 square feet to the facility.
Part of a Broader South Carolina Building Wave
The Greenville expansion was launched alongside similar projects at Encompass Health facilities in Bluffton and North Charleston, part of a coordinated investment across the company's fast-growing South Carolina markets, per The Post and Courier's reporting. Parent company Encompass Health Corporation, based in Birmingham, Alabama, is the nation's largest owner and operator of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, running 170 hospitals nationwide as of September 2025. Encompass Health also uses artificial intelligence to predict readmission risk.
The buildout comes as South Carolina has loosened the regulatory path for hospital expansions. The state enacted Senate Bill 164 in May 2023, eliminating Certificate of Need requirements for most healthcare facilities and setting a full repeal of hospital CON rules for January 1, 2027. Upstate hospital projects include Bon Secours' planned freestanding 24-hour emergency center in Five Forks and Spartanburg Regional's recently announced $325 million heart hospital.
