For profit HCA Florida beefing up competition to publicly run Lee Health
HCA Healthcare is expanding its presence in Southwest Florida and competing with the dominant health system, the publicly operated Lee Health.
The ongoing expansion of the for-profit HCA will include a 100-bed hospital at 3851 Colonial Blvd. that is in planning stages and a freestanding emergency room under construction at 8919 College Pointe Court.
The increasing competition from HCA is among the reasons why Lee Health is considering converting from a public system to a private nonprofit one.
The change would provide leverage to partner with other health care systems and would allow Lee Health to go outside of the county.
More: Lee Health going private? Talks continue among public hospital leaders
Lee Health’s publicly elected board will make a decision by October on a conversion or not.
In 2006, HCA sold its two hospitals in Fort Myers to Lee Health; Southwest Florida Regional Medical Center that no longer exists and Gulf Coast Hospital that has been renamed Gulf Coast Medical Center at 13681 Doctors Way off Daniels Parkway.
More: Lee Health should become private nonprofit hospital, consultants say
What does HCA own in SWFL?
HCA’s main presence in Lee is through ownership of eight MD Now Urgent Care locations, including one in Naples.
The locations are in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Harlem Heights, Lehigh Aces, Estero and Naples.
HCA bought MD Now, which has 59 locations in the state, at the end of 2021.
The company is building a freestanding emergency room in Fort Myers at 8919 College Pointe Court with an estimated cost of $6.5 million, according to Lee County records.
More: Lee Health takes step on privatization debate: Hires consultants for analysis due Feb. 27
HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital, located in Port Charlotte, is involved in the project, spokeswoman Debra McKell said in an email.
“This 10,820-square-foot facility will operate around the clock with full-service emergency services including laboratory, X-rays, CT scanning and ultrasound,” she said.
“We recently held a beam signing event at the location and are expecting it to open in fall 2024,” she said.
HCA Fawcett Hospital opened a similar freestanding emergency room in Cape Coral in June 2022. The address is 322 SW Pine Island Road.
What’s the status of the new hospital?
The hospital will be built at 3851 Colonial Blvd., which is just northeast of McGregor Baptist Church.
The details are being finalized after the site had to be rezoned and some mitigation had to be done, McKell said. She did not immediately have a time when construction will start.
When HCA announced in 2021 plans for the hospital, officials said it would be four stories with 275,870 square feet and would include an emergency room, trauma care, labor and delivery, among other services.
The Fort Myers hospital is one of three planned as part of HCA’s market expansion in the state. The other two are a 90-bed hospital in Gainesville and a 60-bed hospital near the Villages.
Statewide HCA Florida has 49 hospitals and 65 urgent care centers. It reports treating 7.4 million patients in the state each year.
Nationally HCA Healthcare reported $17 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter of last year ending Dec. 31, according to its financial report.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: HCA Florida in Lee County means patients have more choices for care
