Orlando Health establishing medical pavilion and ER in Lake Mary

The health system declared on the day of Wednesday that Orlando Health is establishing a free-standing emergency department (ED) and medical pavilion in Lake Mary.
“Our future vision for the healthcare location involves an acute care hospital, extra medical offices, a potential ambulatory surgery center and other health and wellness concepts,” stated Karen Frenier, president of South Seminole Hospital in a news release.

The $42-million complex, which is scheduled to open in the year of late fall 2018 and break ground later this year, is about a mile away from Florida Hospital’s new 18,000-square-foot free-standing emergency room.
The project of 30-acre is key part of a medical complex on the northwest corner of Manderley Run and Rinehart Road, and within mixed-use community New Century Development.
The first phase involves the development of a four-story 90,000-square-foot emergency room (ER) and medical pavilion. The 24-bed emergency room, with imaging department, ambulance bays and a helipad, is connected to Orlando Health’s South Seminole Hospital, which is about six miles away, with its own ED and Air Care Team helicopter base.
Lake Mary Mayor David Mealor claimed in a news release that the project will bring jobs to the place.
The facility is believed to be one of various free-standing EDs Orlando Health and other health systems have planned in the region of Central Florida this year and into the near future, depicting a national trend.
Standalone emergency rooms date back to the time period of 1970s, but there has been a surge in their construction, specifically in urban areas, as health-care shifts from inpatient to outpatient environments.
There are conflicting choices about the freestanding ERs’ role. While proponents claim the facilities increase access to care, opponents say they can contribute to increase in healthcare charges. Freestanding emergency departments that are owned by health systems charge an extra facility fee.
Health systems are planning most of their facilities in increasing communities to make emergency care accessible and capture more sufferers in the region of Central Florida. Previous to Lake Mary, Orlando Health declared plans to develop a freestanding ED near Kissimmee.