ORLANDO, Fla. – Orlando Health is amid its largest expansion in its 103-year history to keep up with all of the growth across Central Florida.
Since 2018, Orlando Health has either opened or will open 18 new hospitals and hospital expansions, with nine projects currently in the works and two more planned that haven’t been announced.
“We are in the midst of the biggest boom if you will, to serve the needs of our communities,” said Matt Taylor, senior vice president of asset strategy for Orlando Health.
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Taylor spends most of his days calculating where the growth is heading, not only by population projections but also by demographics. He plans where future hospitals need to be built based on Florida’s booming population.
“As we grow for the future, we are building more than $3 billion in new facilities,” Taylor said.
Taylor gave News 6 a tour of what will be the future Orlando Health Jewitt Orthopedic Institute, expanding on the health site’s main campus. It’s one of the 9 projects underway.
Orlando Health also broke ground on two new six-story towers hospitals in Lake Mary earlier this month, which specialize in women’s health, servicing labor and delivery services.
“Lake Mary, for us, we have always had a presence at South Seminole Hospital, but we felt like there was a need in the heart of Seminole County,” Taylor said. “We also feel that the location served well into Volusia County, which we know (has unmet needs) today, and we already see patients coming from Volusia County to the current free-standing emergency room. The medical pavilion at the Lake Mary campus to the hospital just continues to build upon that.”
Orlando Health also opened an entirely new hospital in Horizon West in January of 2021, another area where Taylor was tracking incredible growth.
“In fact, the master plan community I think doubled for several years, so we really felt that area, in particular, was underserved,” he added.
Another area in need where Orlando Health is expanding - further west into Osceola County, one of the fastest-growing counties in the state.
“I would start with Osceola County because I do feel like that’s the community that has been (typically) underserved, not only underserved but the quality of care needs to be raised,” Taylor said.
He added the need for more hospitals goes even further into Polk County. Right now, the Lakeland Regional Medical Center has the busiest emergency department, according to Taylor.
“It really goes beyond Central Florida at this point,” Taylor added. “ ... One of the things that’s important to note here is offer choice as well.”
Taylor adding the boom in population is leading to more areas being underserved, and more areas where hospitals are trying to meet that demand.
“The consequences of not having a facility where there is great need is that you will see higher incident rates; people are waiting too long for preventative care. They aren’t being diagnosed early for cancer so it’s important for us to be there,” he added.