Clearwater, Fla.-based BayCare Health System is planning to build a $200 million hospital down the street from an AdventHealth hospital in Wesley Chapel, Fla., according to The Tampa Bay Times.
BayCare filed plans with Pasco County, Fla., last week for a 190,000-square-foot facility with 60 beds for medical-surgical, critical care and observation. BayCare also plans to build a 85,000-square-foot medical office building.
The proposed location would put BayCare's facility down the street from AdventHealth Wesley Chapel Hospital. The move is permissible because the Florida Legislature eliminated in July certificates of need for hospital expansions.
BayCare purchased the land in Pasco County more than a dozen years ago, but the Agency for Health Care Administration awarded a certificate of need to a competing application from AdventHealth Wesley Chapel Hospital, which opened in 2012 and has since expanded its capacity to 145 licensed beds.
BayCare renewed its push in 2018 to expand into Wesley Chapel, but was met with objection from AdventHealth, which argued it could serve the area adequately without BayCare. The argument was dismissed when the legislature removed the certificate requirement.
Construction on BayCare's facility is expected to begin by September 2020. The facility is slated to open in March 2023.