Tampa General Hospital is increasing its prodigious push into Palm Beach County with a five-year deal to help run Lakeside Medical Center, the lone hospital in the Glades.
The underused hospital, built in 2009, is run by the Palm Beach County Health Care District, a taxing body that helps pay health care costs for indigent and medically needy residents. The hospital is on state-owned land in Belle Glade, about 25 miles west of Wellington.
The district board of commissioners approved the deal in open session on Dec. 11 after hearing a presentation from Tampa General in a closed session.
The extent of Tampa General’s involvement remains vague in public documents. Both sides are reluctant to say too much as a contract is still being worked out.
“TGH is committed to being a strategic partner for the Health Care District and Lakeside Medical Center, with shared goals and a mutual vision for healthcare delivery in the Glades,” the Health Care District said in a statement.
Health Care District Commissioner Patrick Rooney Jr., a former Florida House member, said he knows Tampa General CEO John Couris, who headed Jupiter Medical Center from 2010 to 2017.
“With what I know of him, this is really exciting. The creativity, the innovation, the stuff that they can bring to the table for an area that has been long neglected in this county,” Rooney said. “This is really something special.”
Added board Chairperson Carlos Vidueira, vice president of Huizenga Holdings, “I just don’t think we can get there on our own.”
Tampa General, a nonprofit, 981-bed hospital and academic health system based since 1927 on Hillsborough Bay in Tampa, has in recent years built up a partnership with 20 physician groups, consisting of about 70 doctors, in Palm Beach County.
It’s a time of rapid growth in health care in Palm Beach County, fertile ground because of its high concentration of well-insured retirees.
Tampa General’s most recently announced collaboration in Palm Beach County is with Mass General Brigham, the teaching hospital system for Harvard Medical School. They are planning a 20,000-square-foot cancer treatment center at Legacy Place in Palm Beach Gardens, The Palm Beach Post reported in September.
In that story, Couris expressed interest for the first time in opening a full-service hospital in Palm Beach County, telling The Post if efforts to open one in collaboration with a partner failed, Tampa General would move forward alone.
He declined to answer questions at this time about how Lakeside would fit into that effort.
A hospital boom time
With Florida’s 2021 decision to eliminate the high hurdle to hospital construction posed by a complex approval system, more hospitals are coming.
Universal Health Systems is building a 300-bed hospital off of Interstate 95 and Donald Ross Road in Palm Beach Gardens.
The CityPlace developers recently revealed that they are working with a hospital, possibly Cleveland Clinic, to build a hospital in downtown West Palm Beach.
Meanwhile, the 70-bed Lakeside hospital remains virtually unused. Its average daily census for November was 10.7 beds, the health district said.
In 2023, it had 416 patient admissions and 18,882 emergency room visits to its 17-bed ER.
The district put up $27 million to subsidize Lakeside’s operations in 2023.
For its agreement with Tampa General, the district set aside $600,000 to cover the first-phase costs, including hiring a vice president of hospital administration to work under Tampa General’s oversight.
The governing board met in closed session under a state law that allows public hospitals to discuss strategic plans in private.
Two-phase approach over five years
In a statement, the district said it expected Tampa General to “provide administrative leadership, operational and strategic support and deep expertise to enhance the delivery and outcomes of Lakeside Medical Center.”
In a document submitted to the governing board, the district said its five-year “management and administrative services agreement” with Tampa General will consist of two phases, starting Jan. 1.
The first will take about a year and focus on revenue, strategic planning, care coordination and recruiting a vice president.
The second will focus on information technology, physician alignment, research/education and workers.
The partnership’s goals will be to:
- Support and enhance a commitment to the provision of high-quality health care services.
- Better provide health care services to underserved populations.
- Enhance Lakeside Medical Center’s clinical platform.
- Enable Lakeside to achieve greater levels of operational effectiveness.
Consultant Kaufman Hall helped the district select Tampa General. The district explained that it was “seeking a partner that could provide access to high quality services to fulfill the healthcare needs of the Glades region, continue Lakeside’s commitment to patient safety and excellent quality, support the future provider and programmatic offerings, implement performance improvement initiatives to achieve sustainable financial performance at Lakeside, and ensure future long-term financial sustainability that allows Lakeside to invest in the necessary facility, clinical, and information technology needs.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated to clarify the circumstances surrounding the board’s closed session.
This story was originally published by Stet News Palm Beach, a WLRN News partner.
