Hardin Memorial Hospital will become Baptist Health Hardin

The hospital is on US 31-W (Dixie Avenue) in Elizabethtown.

The sale of 300-bed Hardin Memorial Hospital in Elizabethtown to Baptist Health will be complete by Sept. 1, three months earlier that the original deadline, Baptist and Hardin County officials said Friday.

“September 1st is the start of Baptist Health’s fiscal year, so we decided to move forward faster and benefit both organizations,” County Judge/Executive Harry L. Berry said in a news release.

The hospital will be the ninth in the Baptist Health system, Kentucky's largest, and will be renamed Baptist Health Hardin. Baptist has managed it for 20 years.

“Baptist Health remained steadfast in its commitment to Hardin County and HMH through the many legal hurdles after the sale was announced, and they are supporting us now,” Berry said. The sale was delayed by a doctor's lawsuit.

As part of the sale, Baptist Health has promised to make operating and capital investments of $235 million in the next 10 years, at least $150 million in the first five years "to build new facilities, recruit more physicians, upgrade HMH’s information technology and equipment, and strengthen HMH’s position and reputation" as a regional health-care center, the news release said. "All told, the agreement spells out $361.4 million in payments and investments."