Atlanta’s expanding healthcare access brings new hospital capacity
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August 2026 — Efforts to expand Atlanta healthcare access are increasingly focused on the southside and westside, where the Atlanta City Council has approved a resolution seeking $200 million from Fulton County to support a proposed full-service hospital involving Morehouse School of Medicine. The project would add emergency, maternal, pediatric, and medical training services in areas where residents continue to face gaps in access to care.
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Rebuilding hospital capacity
The proposal follows the 2022 closure of Atlanta Medical Center, which removed a major source of inpatient and emergency care from the city. Wellstar said at the time that it had spent more than two years seeking partners or another path for the facility before closing it Nov. 1.
The Atlanta City Council’s resolution positions the proposed investment as a response to broader gaps in hospital infrastructure on the southside and westside. It calls for expanded emergency and trauma care, while also tying the project to medical education and workforce opportunities for Atlanta and Fulton County residents.
The proposed Morehouse School of Medicine project would include emergency, maternal, pediatric, and medical training services, but the council’s approval does not provide the $200 million needed to move it forward. The resolution instead asks Fulton County to identify and commit the funding.
Morehouse School of Medicine President Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice framed the project as additive rather than competitive. “It is about complementing them, strengthening regional capacity, and ensuring that underserved communities are no longer left behind,” she said to GPB.
READ MORE: Healthcare trends driving transformation in 2026
Capital already in motion
While the Fulton County request works through the political process, Grady Health System is already building. A new freestanding emergency department opened in June in Union City, the first component of a broader medical campus expected to cost more than $1 billion. Grady has said the expansion is intended to address growing demand and capacity constraints in South Fulton.
The Union City facility provides 24/7 emergency care for adults and children. Grady’s timeline calls for a medical office building to open in early 2028. A 200-bed hospital at the site is scheduled to open in early 2031 and operate as a Level III trauma center.
The investment provides a more concrete measure of how hospital capacity is expanding in South Fulton. Grady reports that more than 2,000 patients use its services each day and that its emergency departments handle approximately 155,000 visits annually.
Unlike the proposed Morehouse School of Medicine project, Grady has already outlined a financing plan and construction timeline for its South Fulton campus. The system expects to use $300 million in Fulton County bond funding, with the balance coming from Grady financing and philanthropic support. Grady’s expansion provides an immediate point of comparison as Fulton County considers the separate $200 million request for additional hospital infrastructure.
Measuring the access gap
The projects are moving forward against persistent geographic differences in health access and outcomes across Fulton County. Atlanta Regional Commission research has documented life expectancy differences of more than two decades between communities located less than 10 miles apart, with some Fulton County residents expected to live to about 87 and others to about 63.
Access barriers also extend beyond the availability of hospital beds. The Commonwealth Fund’s 2026 State Health Disparities Report ranked Georgia 48th for healthcare performance among Hispanic residents, with 40% of Hispanic adults uninsured and 29% reporting they had skipped care because of cost. The report found similar affordability pressures among other groups, including 17% of Black adults in Georgia who reported forgoing care because of cost.
In South Fulton, the planned hospital investments would add emergency, inpatient, specialty, and maternal services closer to residents in an area where local officials have continued to cite gaps in emergency and specialty care following the closure of Atlanta Medical Center South in East Point.
Want more? Read the Focus: Atlanta report.
