Florida To Open 120-Bed Center For COVID-19 Patients In Pinellas County

Florida officials are finalizing plans for a “super-skilled nursing facility” that will accept COVID-19 patients who don’t require critical medical care.

The 120-bed facility will be in Pinellas County, though more specific details haven’t been released, Pinellas County Administrator Barry Burton said July 16.

Last month, only eight COVID-19 patients in Pinellas County needed ventilators, but 54 patients were on ventilators July 15, said Angus Jameson, MD, medical director for Pinellas County Emergency Medical Services. Some hospitals are again halting elective surgeries, Dr. Jameson said.

“Clearly, the healthcare system is stressed at this point from a physical standpoint, but also frankly from a human standpoint,” Dr. Jameson said. “Your healthcare workers are exhausted. They’ve been at this for months. It is incredibly hard to care for patients with COVID.”

Earlier this week, Florida officials said they were focusing on expanding hospital surge capacity rather than building alternate sites to accommodate an overflow of patients due to the hurricane season, according to WUSF Public Media. 

“At this time, mobile field hospitals consisting of tents may not be the best resource to deploy during hurricane season,” Florida Division of Emergency Management communications director Jason Mahon told WUSF. “Instead, our primary support strategy is to surge staff into existing facilities — opening up additional capacity in those hospitals.”

 

Source:  Becker’s Hospital Review

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Medical Campus Project Forges Ahead in Florida

Architecture and engineering firm Stellar has been selected by Flagler Health+ to design and build a $150 million health and wellness campus in the Durbin Park section of St. Johns County, to be sited between Interstate 95 and State Road 9B.

A recent release from Stellar, based in Jacksonville, said that the firm will be collaborating with Flagler Health+ and University of Florida Health on the project, whose conception entails medical residency programs, a hospital complex as well as educational opportunities for residents and fellows at the campus.  Furthermore, plans for down the road at the facility entail ambulatory medical services.

Architect Gresham Smith will collabrote with Stellar on the five-year, 42-acre buildout project, which is anticipated to break ground sometime this fall and be completed in 2025.

“Stellar is excited to be the design-builder for this innovative new concept in health and wellness,” Richard Lovelace, senior vice president, commercial at Stellar, said in a recent statement.  “After building two Health Villages for Flagler Health+ at Murabella and Nocatee, we are proud to continue our partnership and help bring comprehensive medical care to northern St. Johns County.”

 

Added Rick Bouchereau, vice president at architectural partner firm Gresham Smith, said in a statement that his firm is “honored to partner with Stellar on this transformative project for Flagler Health+ and this community. Our design for the Durbin Park campus will create a strong sense of place and embody Flagler Health+’s goals for a healthy community.”

Stellar employs nearly 800 professionals in such specialties as architecture, engineering and construction, and the firm specializes in construction management and design-build for projects around the nation.  In addition to healthcare, their portfolio entails construction in the recreation, hospitality, industrial and military sectors.

Healthcare provider Flagler Health+ maintains a healthcare presence specifically in Northeast Florida, inclusive of working with local schoolchidren to educate them about behavioral health.  Flagler Health+ falls under the umbrella of the 130-year-old Flagler Hospital, which is located in St. Augustine.

 

Source:  HC+O News

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Catalyst Healthcare Debuts Orlando-Area MOB

Catalyst Healthcare Real Estate has wrapped up construction on a 50,000-square-foot medical office building in St. Cloud, Fla. Anchored by Orlando Health St. Cloud Hospital, the development broke ground in 2019. According to Osceola County records, Ameris Bank provided nearly $10 million in construction financing. Davis Stokes Collaborative served as the project architect.

Located at 1330 Budinger Ave., at the intersection of U.S. Highway 192 and Budinger Avenue, the 84-bed facility is the first multi-specialty medical property developed on the campus of OHSCH, the former St. Cloud Regional Medical Center. Earlier this year, Orlando Health entered into an agreement to become the majority owner of the newly-built asset.

The facility provides patient access point and serves as a walk-in clinic as well. Outpatient services include cardiology, diagnostic imaging, gastroenterology, urology and primary care. Celebration Orthopaedic, Sports Medicine Institute and Eye Florida also lease space at the building, which is some 2 miles from the city center in the Medical Arts District. There are numerous dining and shopping options alongside the highway, including St. Cloud Square.

 

Source:  CPE

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Healthcare Real Estate ‘Remains A Sector Of Change’ Amid Pandemic

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A new report from BTIG shows that health care REITS are down nearly 26% year-to-date as opposed to the wider REITS sector, which is down about 14%.

The report states that health care “remains a sector of change.”

“The acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to different levels of operating stress across the healthcare system,” the report states…. “Potential disparities in outcomes based on insurance coverage during the pandemic could also lead increased calls for changes to government healthcare programs.”

The same report does show that medical office building REITs have held up pretty well and have been “relatively resilient.”

The report says that since April during the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, “outpatient volumes have risen to 69% of pre-COVID levels… Accordingly, our MOB (medical office building) coverage has collected 95% of second quarter rent on average, stability which is reflected in unchanging MOB dividends.”

As it pertains to senior housing trends, BTIG says senior housing facilities and their residents are taking the advice of health experts.

The numbers of seniors in such facilities who have contracted the virus has declined, BTIG says.

“Specifically, for SNR, less than 0.2% of residents and employees are positive for the virus, and the new case rate has declined 91% from peak levels in April,” the report says. “Thus, 90% of SNR properties have begun lifting restriction using a phased approach so that residents can return toward normality and new residents can begin moving in.”

The report concludes: “We expect this same-store operational and occupancy focus to remain at the forefront until REITs’ cost of capital improves enough to return to the acquisition market.”

 

 

Source:  GlobeSt.

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Bayfront Health St. Petersburg To Be Sold To Orlando Health

The city’s oldest and largest hospital, Bayfront Health St. Petersburg, is set to be sold to nonprofit health care company Orlando Health, pending a vote by the City Council on July 9.

Community Health Systems Inc., the private company which currently owns the 480-bed facility, announced it had signed an agreement with Orlando Health on Thursday. The news comes about a year after city officials raised concerns about the management of the hospital, which sits on city-owned land and provides care to all, regardless of insurance status.

Orlando Health will take over operations and the long-term lease that Community Health Systems holds with the city, so long as council members approve next month, a news release said. A copy of the proposed lease obtained by the Tampa Bay Times shows it would run for 50 years.

The agreement states Orlando Health must continue to “provide charity care to needy and underserved persons” and “those who may otherwise be unable to afford or obtain care due to various possible adverse circumstances.”

City councilman Robert Blackmon, who was born at Bayfront St. Petersburg, said Friday that continuing the charity care was a “sticking point” in negotiations with Orlando Health. He said he will support the agreement, as did councilwoman Darden Rice.

After a one-on-one conversation with the company’s president and CEO David Strong a couple of months ago, Blackmon said he is confident charity care will continue at the hospital — and be even better under new management.

He pointed to a string of troubles at Bayfront under Community Health Systems, which purchased it in 2013. The hospital has seen layoffs and resignations of top executives, the ending of a partnership with the University of South Florida, and a Department of Justice investigation related to charity care finances in recent years.

Already frustrated, city officials grew more so in early 2019, when then-Bayfront CEO Joe Mullany gave council members a glowing annual report that did not align with problems playing out in public view.

“We’ve had difficult times in the last few years,” Blackmon said. “Orlando Health is the best-situated group to bring (Bayfront) back to the excellence it was once known for.”

Rice called the sale the “only reasonable solution” to the ongoing issues at the hospital.

“Ultimately, the new ownership is what is best for our community,” she said.

The city’s other six council members did not respond to requests for comment Friday. Mayor Rick Kriseman was not available for an interview.

About 15,000 patients were served at Bayfront St. Petersburg in 2018, according to hospital records. As of July 2019, the hospital employed 1,839 people and had 171 open positions.

Officials for Orlando Health declined to be interviewed, instead releasing a statement that said the sale should be final by Sept. 30.

Peter Young, a hospital consultant based in Fort Myers, said Orlando Health, which operates the only Level 1 trauma center in the Orlando area, is in an “expansion moment” of “picking up the skeletal remains” of hospitals in need of rejuvenation.

The purchase of Bayfront St. Petersburg would be the nonprofit’s debut in the Tampa Bay area, and make it so the nonprofit owns 14 total hospitals, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The sale also would mark the second Community Health Systems hospital acquired by Orlando Health, as it purchased Osceola County’s St. Cloud Regional Medical Center in April, the Sentinel reported.

Community Health Systems, based in Tennessee, has sold more than 50 hospitals since 2017 to pay off debt related to its $7.6 billion purchase of Florida’s Health Managed Associates in 2014, according to the National Business Journal.

Bayfront officials declined to be interviewed, and the company released a statement by Sharon Hayes, chief executive officer of the St. Petersburg hospital:

“Orlando Health is well-respected for their work to sustain and enhance medical services, and we are excited to partner with them to benefit our patients and communities,” she wrote. “This is an extraordinary time in health care and together we will continue to provide quality care for our neighbors, friends and family.”

 

Source:  Tampa Bay Times

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