Tag Archive for: orlando health

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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West Orange Healthcare District Plans New Nonprofit And Office Building

The West Orange Healthcare District has plans for a new nonprofit and office building as part of its latest initiatives.

The Ocoee-based organization will create the Foundation for a Healthier West Orange, which will oversee Healthy West Orange, a health-related project launched in 2016 by the district, Orlando Health and Sarasota-based Observer Media Group Inc. The new nonprofit, in turn, will launch a new community resource center in 2020 called the Healthy User Bulletin Board (HUBB), which will help area residents find access to local health care and wellness services.

“There are a whole host of organizations delivering health and wellness programs in our community, but not everyone is aware of them, and if they are, they don’t necessarily know how to access them,” West Orange Healthcare District CEO Tracy Swanson said in a prepared statement. “HUBB will bridge the gap between these programs and the people who can benefit from them.”

With the new nonprofit will come a new building to house the Foundation for a Healthier West Orange and West Orange Health Care District in Winter Garden at the corner of Plant Street and Southwest Crown Point Road, a West Orange Healthcare District spokeswoman told Orlando Business Journal. Construction started on the $4.5 million, 25,000-square-foot building in August 2019 and should be completed in spring 2020.

Notably, more than half of the building’s space will be leased to local organizations and businesses, with the earnings from that going to the foundation’s operations. Orlando-based Baker Barrios Architects is the architect for the project, while Orlando-based McCree General Contractors and Architects general contractor.

Initial funding for the new foundation will come through two grants. The first, a $10 million grant, will establish and staff HUBB for its first three years as well as expand Healthy West Orange programs and outreach. The second grant, which totals $40 million, will create an endowed fund whose earnings will fund the organization’s programs from year four onward.

The district, which was founded 70 years ago, will keep its community health care grants program going. The organization has awarded more than $180 million in local grants, including the two grants to the new foundation.

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Orlando Health Snaps Up 28 Acres In Osceola County

Orlando Health is setting up another potential expansion into Osceola County after closing on the purchase of a property near Interstate 4.

The $3.4 billion nonprofit health care provider bought a 28-acre parcel at 8011 Osceola Polk Line Road in Davenport near the Polk County line. The property, sold by EHOF Acquisitions II LLC for $14.4 million, previously was reported as a 25-acre parcel when Orlando Health went into contract on the property last July.

Currently the hospital is developing plans for the parcel and does not have a dedicated use set for it yet, Orlando Health spokeswoman Kena Lewis told Orlando Business Journal.

Orlando Health’s property will be part of a 108-acre mixed use development called Reunion Village. That project, owned by Encore Capital Management, currently is seeking hotels, shops, grocery and other concepts to be part of a 200,000-square-foot retail center, according to a LandQwest listing on the proposed development.

Meanwhile, the health care provider has locked up several other Central Florida properties in the past year:

• On Nov. 19, it paid $1.64 million for a roughly 1-acre parcel with an existing 18,000-square-foot office building at 1300 S. Division Ave., north of Kaley Avenue near its Orlando Regional Medical Center Campus.

• On May 25, it acquired a two-story, 72,000-square-foot building at 1000 W. Broadway St. in Oviedo from Oviedo Medical Properties LLC for $22.2 million, which it will use as medical office space.

• On Sept. 28, it bought a 1.5-acre parcel with a 30,000-square-foot warehouse at 1402 Sligh Blvd. for $2.03 million in downtown Orlando, which it previously leased from the seller, rail company CSX Corp. (Nasdaq: CSX).

• On June 18, it bought a vacant half-acre lot at 121 W. Copeland Drive in downtown Orlando for $833,500.

• Also in June, it purchased 15.13 vacant acres on the northeast corner of Dowden Road and Randal Park Boulevard in the Lake Nona area for roughly $9.9 million, where it will build a $140 million-$160 million hospital that already has gotten state approval.

• On Dec. 14, it bought 51 acres of former grazing land at 5401 Effie Drive in Apopka for $1.48 million from Orlando Beltway Associates Plymouth Sorrento LLC.

Orlando Health also expanded its footprint in Osceola with the $32 million, 60,000-square-foot Orlando Health Emergency Department & Medical Pavilion – Osceola County it opened at 1001 E. Osceola Parkway in Kissimmee on Jan. 3. That facility’s future phase 2 eventually will include a second 60,000-square-foot medical pavilion.

Orlando Health’s eight Central Florida hospitals have a total of 3,300-plus beds. It has the area’s only Level One Trauma Centers for adults and children, and is a teaching hospital system. Its hospitals are: Orlando Regional Medical Center, Dr. P. Phillips Hospital, South Seminole Hospital, Health Central Hospital, the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies, South Lake Hospital and St. Cloud Regional Medical Center. It also owns 10 urgent care centers in the region, as well as several cancer centers, freestanding ERs and more. It is one of the region’s largest employers, with 23,000 workers.

 

Source:  OBJ

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Orlando Health Plans 2 New Downtown Buildings

Orlando Health plans to build a pair of facilities on its downtown campus.

The $3.4 billion nonprofit health care provider announced plans for a one-story, 6,800-square-foot new Orlando Health Imaging Center at 1800 S. Orange Ave. The center would provide medical imaging services such as MRI and CT scans. Orlando Health didn’t provide construction cost estimates, but it may cost roughly $2 million to build, according to industry standards.

“We’re excited about bringing this new flagship imaging center to the heart of the Downtown South district on Orange Avenue,” Matt Taylor, vice president of asset strategy for Orlando Health, said in a prepared statement. “In addition to serving patients with the most technologically-advanced equipment in a welcoming setting, we are providing convenient patient parking adjacent the building. The new location offers patients easy access to imaging services near their work or home.”

The other facility, which will be built on 121 W. Copeland Drive between Sligh Boulevard and Lucerne Terrace, includes a nine-level, 895-space parking garage for staff and patients, which could be as large as 161,000 square feet. The structure, which could cost up to $25 million according to industry standards, also will include more than 12,000 square feet of medical office space on the ground level, plus an attached five-level, 42,000-square-foot medical office building.

Orlando Health previously closed on the Copeland property on June 18 for $833,500. The land was previously owned by the city of Orlando/Orlando Utilities Commission.

Orlando Health has submitted plans for both projects to the city of Orlando and is seeking approval to begin construction. Construction on the imaging center is expected to begin this spring, with completion by fall 2019. The Copeland Drive building is planned to begin spring 2019, with completion expected for nine months later.

The development team for the imaging center includes Nashville, Tenn.-based architect Gresham Smith & Partners along with Titusville-based general contractor Rush Construction Inc., while Apopka-based Finfrock is the design/build firm for the parking garage and office building, Taylor told Orlando Business Journal. All Orlando Health positions at the two facilities will be filled by current employees, and the projects are expected to add 100 total construction jobs.

Rush Construction could not be reached for comment. Finfrock decline to comment on the construction price, citing confidentiality.

Orlando Health’s eight Central Florida hospitals have a total of 3,300-plus beds. It has the area’s only Level One Trauma Centers for adults and children, and is a teaching hospital system. Its hospitals are: Orlando Regional Medical Center, Dr. P. Phillips Hospital, South Seminole Hospital, Health Central Hospital, the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies, South Lake Hospital and St. Cloud Regional Medical Center. It also owns 11 urgent care centers in the region, as well as several cancer centers, freestanding ERs and more. It is one of the region’s largest employers, with 23,000 workers.

Source: OBJ

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Metro Orlando To Get 3 New Hospitals

Orlando Health and HCA Healthcare inc. will build a total of three new Central Florida hospitals, thanks to getting approval Dec. 7 from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.
Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA (NYSE: HCA) and Orlando Health got the greenlight for their requested new facilities from the August 2018 batching cycle. The approvals are required before any new hospitals can be built.
The general acute-care hospital projects that got the thumbs up are:
• The 100-bed Orlando Health Lake Mary Hospital, planned for a 30-acre site at 380 Rinehart Road in Lake Mary
• The 50-bed Orlando Health Randal Park Hospital slated for 9349 Randal Park Blvd. in southeast Orlando
• The 40-bed Central Florida Regional Hospital International Parkway (CFRHIP) to be built at 4525 International Parkway in Sanford
It’s unknown if competitor Florida Hospital, soon to be known as AdventHealth, will appeal these approvals. Florida Hospital executives couldn’t be reached for comment.
Orlando Health, a $3.4 billion nonprofit health care system, on June 18 paid roughly $9.9 million for 15.13 acres of vacant land at the northeast corner of Dowden Road and Randal Park Boulevard for the Randal Park facility. That new hospital will allow the nonprofit to operate in the growing community near Lake Nona, and will reduce crowding at Orlando Regional Medical Center, Orlando Health said in its proposal.
Phase 1 of the project, which would include a freestanding emergency room and outpatient medical office, would start in 2019 and finish in 2020. Phase 2 would have operations begin in 2022. A third phase would allow expansion of medical office capabilities and inpatient facilities, but a timeline wasn’t included.
Orlando Health also is moving forward on its Rinehart Road project, the site of its $42 million, 30-acre freestanding emergency room and medical pavilion now under construction. This new $140 million to $160 million hospital includes 100 acute care beds being delicensed from South Seminole Hospital, Orlando Health spokesman Desmond Jordon told Orlando Business Journal. Renovating the existing South Seminole campus would have cost $310 million to $320 million, and would cause disruption to the services at the facility, Orlando Health said in its proposal.
Phase 1 of the Rinehart Road project is the medical pavilion, which should be completed in August 2019, and operations for Phase 2 are slated to begin in 2022. The second $360 million phase of the hospital will include the patient bed tower, and other health and wellness concepts. Once complete, Orlando Health’s Lake Mary campus will join a growing medical building hub in the area, informally referred to as the Rinehart Medical Corridor.
Meanwhile, HCA’s project will include a new adult psychiatric program with a minimum of 14 beds, according to the proposal. Central Florida Regional Hospital will relocate 21 of its medical/surgical beds and all of its 19 obstetrics beds to the proposed 40-bed facility. The health care provider does not list a timeline nor a projected construction cost for the facility.
HCA is one of the largest, private health systems in Florida, featuring 50 hospitals across the state and 31 surgery centers. Its local facilities are: Central Florida Regional Hospital, Oviedo Medical Center, Osceola Regional Medical Center and Poinciana Medical Center. It also is partnering with the University of Central Florida on the $175 million UCF Lake Nona Medical Center, which will be a teaching hospital slated to open in fall 2020.
Source: OBJ
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