ORANGE CITY — Surrounded by some 70 acres of land, it’s no doubt that the 175-bed Florida Hospital Fish Memorial in Orange City was built to grow.
Officials of the Florida Hospital system made it official early Tuesday at a groundbreaking ceremony on the southside of the campus. By 2020, a 4-story addition will extend out several feet where a parking lot sits near the entrance.
The new building will house obstetrics, birthing and a pediatric emergency room; private rooms and other enhanced services as a part of a $100 million expansion. Once complete, the hospital will have 225 beds.
The investment is yet another sign of the growth taking hold in this corner of West Volusia where more than 150,000 people call home. Health care providers in the last five years have begun to take notice and they're responding to the competition.
“We’re not done investing in the community,” said Rob Deininger, chief executive of Florida Hospital Fish Memorial. “In the months and years ahead, you will continue to see us make more investments in Deltona, DeLand, Orange City and DeBary to continue to create access that isn’t on Saxon Boulevard.”
Owned by the Adventist Health System, Florida Hospital purchased 30 acres of land last year that hugs Interstate 4 and Howland Boulevard in Deltona. That parcel also neighbors the site of Halifax Health’s future hospital that’s now entangled in litigation.
Both Florida Hospital and Halifax Health — while fighting each other for market share — are also trying to cut off the outflow of patients seeking health services in Seminole County and the Orlando area.
Child deliveries can be moderately beneficial for a hospital since they’re guaranteed payment from the Medicaid program. It’s also a crucial piece of both hospital’s expansion plans.
Deininger said he is not worried about the competition.
“We have plenty of markets where we have more than one hospital. West Volusia is not a unique place. You look at the Orlando market were we have two very good health systems — Orlando Health and Florida Hospital,” Deininger said. “Over time, people have decided: Do I like Orlando Health or do I like Florida Hospital?”
Whether the hospitals will add more robust pediatric services, however, remains a wildcard.
Dedicated units for pediatric services were shuttered for financial reasons in the mid-2000s at hospitals in New Smyrna Beach and DeLand. The expansion at Florida Hospital Fish Memorial includes the relocation of the birthing unit from DeLand to Orange City.
Florida Hospital officials said the move will serve residents in the region in a centrally located facility and also provide an opportunity for them to grow.
“Our goal is to grow obstetrics services (in Orange City) by 70 to 80 percent of what it’s doing right now (in DeLand),” said David Ottati, CEO of Florida Hospital’s north Central Florida region. “We’re doing maybe about 500 deliveries and we want to get to about 800 to 900 in a year.”