UF Health will get $10M from Jacksonville for new trauma center. How will the city pay?
A new trauma center and emergency room at UF Health Jacksonville's main campus will get $10 million from the city on top of $80 million from the state, an amount that hospital leaders say will be needed over the next three to four years for modernizing the region's life-saving center for emergency care.
Jacksonville City Council voted Tuesday for the city's portion of the cost. A future City Council will have to decide how to pay for the commitment.
City Council President Terrance Freeman brought UF Health Jacksonville's funding request to council.
"When people are meeting some of their most critical times when it comes to medical emergencies, this is their option, so this is a vital asset to our city," Freeman said.
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During last year's legislation session, Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state put $80 million toward the new trauma center and emergency room. UF Health Jacksonville operates the only Level 1 trauma center in the region. It is one of seven in Florida.
The city is in the fifth year of a six-year agreement to put $120 million of city dollars toward renovation of the city-owned buildings that UF Health Jacksonville uses on Eighth Street. The 2023-24 budget will complete the city's commitment for that work on necessities such as replacing aging generators, roofs and central air and heating systems.
The City Council voted to add another $10 million to that multi-year agreement for the new Level 1 trauma center and emergency room. The city will pay it's money after the entire $80 million state allocation has been used for that work.
"I would say based on all of our preliminary estimates, we don't have any doubt that this will come in at $90 million," said Greg Miller, executive vice president and chief operating officer for UF Health Jacksonville. "It will be a challenge and we're going to have to do a lot of value engineering to make that happen."
The city's support for the trauma center and catching up on a backlog of work on the medical campus' buildings is separate from the annual contribution Jacksonville makes each year to help cover the hospital's cost of treating patients who lack health insurance or have a low amount of insurance coverage.
The trauma center will be named in honor of Leon Haley Jr., who died in 2021 while serving as the hospital CEO.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: UF Health Jacksonville will get Jacksonville money for trauma center
