Boca Raton Regional Hospital has launched a campaign to raise $250 million for expanding, including the construction of a patient tower on its campus.
The announcement came as the nonprofit hospital prepares for a merger with Miami-based Baptist Health South Florida. That affiliate is expected to be finalized in summer 2019. However, BRRH will maintain its identity.
Its fundraising campaign has showcased how the Boca Raton hospital has one of the deepest donor networks in South Florida. It has already raised $115 million, with donations coming from board members Christine E. Lynn, Stanley and Marilyn Barry, Richard and Barbara Schmidt, Elaine J. Wold, and Louis B. and Anne W. Green.
“We stand at the threshold of an extraordinary future for Boca Raton Regional Hospital, one borne of a powerful and visionary long-term plan,” said BRRH President and CEO Jerry Fedele, who will retire after the Baptist Health deal is consummated. “As always, our supporters of the Hospital have demonstrated their spirit, commitment, and unflagging devotion by helping ensure these plans become reality. We all owe them a debt of gratitude for the sophisticated level of healthcare we will all enjoy as we move forward with this transformative initiative.”
The hospital hopes to expand its campus with a seven-story patient tower. This 180,000-square-foot building would include surgical suites, a patient lobby, and three floors set aside for future growth. The 400 rooms in the current hospital building would be converted to all private rooms with a major renovation, plus a 20-bed observation unit would be added.
BRRH also plans to build a 972-space parking garage.
“We’ve all come together in the spirit of Gloria Drummond, whose pioneering spirit helped build this hospital, to help take us to the next level as a healthcare provider,” said Lynn, chairman of BRRH. “We hope and expect those who care deeply about sophisticated world-class healthcare will embrace this effort and help us bridge the gap between the $115 million we’ve raised to date and the $250 million we need to move forward. Our community has always been there for the hospital, as demonstrably as the hospital has been there for the community.”
Baptist Health South Florida and Boca Raton Regional Hospital announced that they have reached an agreement on a formal Letter of Intent regarding a strategic partnership between the respective organizations. This development marks an important step forward in structuring an agreement that would finalize the affiliation.
“We are most pleased to have achieved this milestone in our discussions with such a prestigious and high-quality healthcare organization,” said Jerry Fedele, President and CEO of Boca Raton Regional Hospital. “It is an exciting development for our Hospital and our community and reflects the hard work and thoughtful interactions of our Ad Hoc Partnership Steering Committee, our Board and Baptist Health leadership.”
Baptist Health is the largest not-for-profit healthcare organization in the region with 10 hospitals and more than 100 physician and outpatient locations from Palm Beach County to the Florida Keys.
“Like Baptist Health, Boca Raton Regional Hospital is a top-ranked organization with a not-for-profit mission and commitment to providing high-quality compassionate care. We are confident that the synergies between our organizations will allow us to better serve our communities and increase access to affordable, high quality care for our patients,” said Brian E. Keeley, President and CEO of Baptist Health.
A Letter of Intent essentially serves as an “agreement to agree” between two parties, clarifies key points in the relationship and is considered as an announcement that the two entities are moving forward in reaching a Definitive Agreement. It is expected that a Definitive Agreement between Boca Raton Regional Hospital and Baptist Health will be executed by early 2019 and the affiliation is expected to be finalized by summer.
Boca Raton Regional Hospital first announced its intent to seek a strategic partner in 2017. Given the growing demand for its services, along with the Hospital’s programmatic and facility expansion and financial performance, it was thought to be an opportune time to seek a partner that would help it sustain and build upon its commitment to accessible, affordable and high-quality care delivery throughout the region. “Our goal was to use our success in recent years to attract other providers and establish a partnership that would enhance our capabilities and mitigate the challenges of a stand-alone hospital in a complex and evolving healthcare industry,” said Fedele.
After issuing a Request for Proposal and receiving responses from some of the nation’s foremost healthcare systems, Boca Regional narrowed its list of suitors to five in the spring of 2018 and then selected Baptist Heath South Florida for further discussions.
“We have now advanced closer to a most important evolution for our Hospital, one that will accelerate and elevate our position as a preeminent academic regional referral medical center,” said Christine E. Lynn, Boca Raton Regional Hospital Board Chair. “It will serve to secure both our goals and objectives and those of Baptist Health South Florida.”
/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/florida-medical-space-logo.png00admin/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/florida-medical-space-logo.pngadmin2018-12-13 04:16:202018-12-13 04:16:20Boca Raton Regional Hospital And Baptist Health South Florida Agree On Letter Of Intent
For years, hospitals and physician groups have proposed building a proton therapy center in Palm Beach County. Those plans never panned out, presumably because the cancer-treatment centers are prohibitively expensive.
But a plan for a proton therapy center at Tenet Healthcare’s Delray Medical Center remains on track. Proton International of Louisville, Kentucky, this month closed on an $81.3 million bond issue that will pay for the 40,000-square-foot facility, according to a mortgage.
The facility will be open for photon patients in 2018 and proton patients in 2019, Proton International said.
With proton therapy, doctors aim a high-speed stream of positively charged particles at a cancerous tumor. Unlike chemotherapy, which bombards a patient’s body with radiation, protons release more of their energy into the tumor and nowhere else, thus saving healthy tissue.
Seen as a safer alternative to chemotherapy, protons are used to treat tumors of the brain and central nervous system, spine, head and neck, lung, prostate, liver, gastrointestinal tract and colon, and some breast tumors. Because children are especially sensitive to radiation therapy, doctors often use protons to treat juvenile cancer.
In early 2012, Boca Raton Regional Hospital said it would spend $120 million to build a proton center on Glades Road. At the same time, South Florida Radiation Oncology was scouting locations for its own proton facility. Neither project was built.
/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/florida-medical-space-logo.png00admin/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/florida-medical-space-logo.pngadmin2017-06-01 21:23:372017-06-01 21:23:37Proton Therapy Center Lands $81 Million Financing For Delray Beach Facility
