Dive Brief:
- A Florida health system faces a problem many systems wish they had -- figuring out how to deal with a growth spurt in their community and increased need for hospital services.
- Two hospitals, 560-bed Leesburg Regional Medical Center (LRMC) and 560-bed The Villages Regional Hospital, are bracing for an increase in visitors as retirees flow to the state from January to April. Longer-term, the facilities expect to see up to a 30% population increase in the counties around the hospitals.
- To keep up with growing demand, the two facilities will each need to add as many as 300 beds. Hospital leaders are also adding capacity for services needed by Medicare recipients; for example, LRMC is adding 29 private observation rooms.
Dive Insight:
The health system, Central Florida Health Alliance, has an enviable problem -- how do you cope with the massive influx of patients without breaking the bank and staff and infrastructure? Given that 60% of patients there are Medicare recipients, it seems that schemes catering to this demographic will be the answer. But adding 300 beds to each of its facilities could still prove to be a backbreaking financial challenge. Sometimes growth is a mixed blessing.