Community Health Network and Lifepoint Behavioral Health are proposing a 120-bed mental health hospital in Fishers along what is often called the “Med Tech Corridor,” between 136th Street and Interstate 69, west of Atlantic Road.

The facility is expected to create about 200 jobs. Patients would typically stay seven to 10 days.

Holly Millard of Community Health Network and attorney Addison Bradford told the Fishers City Council Monday night that the hospital would not operate like an emergency room. Patients would not walk in for care, they said, but would be placed there by referral.

Millard and Bradford said the hospital would keep a “low profile” and treat “less complex” mental health cases. They said the project is meant to fit the area, and that the operators intend to be a “great partner with the city.”

Mayor Scott Fadness called Community a longtime and “great partner” of the city. Fadness said the facility would add another layer of resources to meet Fishers’ mental health needs.

The proposal is part of a joint venture the two health systems formed in early 2025 to build two inpatient behavioral health hospitals in central Indiana. Under that partnership, Lifepoint, a Brentwood, Tennessee-based company that operates 24 behavioral health hospitals nationwide, would run day-to-day operations. The hospitals would be part of Community Fairbanks Behavioral Health’s continuum of care.

Community and Lifepoint already work together on three rehabilitation hospitals in the Indianapolis area, in northeast Indianapolis, Greenwood and Brownsburg.

The Fishers proposal follows a similar plan in Westfield. In January, the Westfield City Council rejected a 120-bed behavioral health hospital proposed across from Community’s new Westfield campus at 196th Street and East Street, despite a unanimous recommendation from that city’s Advisory Plan Commission. Bradford also represented Lifepoint in that case.

Community has said it plans to move most of the inpatient acute behavioral health beds now at Community Hospital North into its two new hospitals. Community North would keep a smaller unit of about 20 beds for patients with medically complex needs.

Monday’s meeting marked the first reading of the proposed rezoning. A neighborhood meeting is planned for November.

The site must also be annexed into Fishers. The first reading and public hearing on the annexation are set for the Nov. 16 City Council meeting. The Fishers Plan Commission will hold a public hearing on the rezoning Dec. 2, and the City Council is scheduled to take final votes on both the annexation and rezoning Dec. 14.