MARION, Ill. -- The first new hospital in Southern Illinois in 40 years will officially open Dec. 12 when Heartland Regional Medical Center begins accepting patients.

"We will actually be running two hospitals for a while that day," Tom Keim, vice president of marketing for Marion Memorial Hospital, told the Southern Illinoisan newspaper.

Marion Memorial is moving to the new building from its current location on Main Street.

The new Heartland Regional Medical Center, a three-story, 80-bed facility, is on Illinois 13 on the city's west side.

Community Health Systems bought Marion Memorial Hospital from the city in October 1996. The hospital's chief executive, Ron Seal, said the company came in with plans to build.

The new hospital means a larger variety of new medical and surgical services will be available. Many of the nearly 75 services are already in place with more scheduled.

The hospital was designed by Earl Swinson and Associates, a hospital architectural firm. However, local doctors who will work in the facility had an input in its design.

"The hospital was designed by architects and physicians and employees," Seal said. "It is a very state-of-the-art facility."

Surgical and diagnostic services are all located on the main floor of the hospital, designed in a way that makes one area easily accessible to the next. Keim said that it's vastly different from Marion Memorial.

The hospital is designed to keep services in tact if expansion is needed.