New corporate headquarters gives space for other services
By Kyle LoJacono
When Florida Medical Clinic opened its newest facility in 2009 on SR 54 in Land O’ Lakes, it was with an eye toward the future.
It was built to easily allow for several expansions, and the first of those got under way Dec. 6. The $3.5 million project is adding a 30,000-square-foot administrative building that will become the business’ new corporate headquarters.
Currently, Florida Medical is headquartered at a few locations in east Pasco County, including Zephyrhills.
“I have mixed emotions a little bit because I’ve been in Zephyrhills for such a long time, but this will be the first time I can put all of the administrative functions in one location,” said Florida Medical Clinic CEO Joe Delatorre, who started the company in east Pasco 17 years ago. “Right now there is a lot of lost time going back and forth to meet with all these different people. This will be very nice to be more centrally located.”
Florida Medical spokeswoman Janet Wing said the headquarters should be open by late summer 2011.
With the timesaving, the movement west will open up room for more services in Zephyrhills.
“We need more space for (same-day surgery) expansion, clinical rheumatology expansion and urgent care expansion all in Zephyrhills,” said Delatorre, who currently lives in Wesley Chapel. “This new facility will free up the space for those expansions in east Pasco.”
The first of those future projects is for same-day surgery, which will be a 12,000-square-foot expansion expected to begin in the first half of 2011. Rheumatology facilities will grow by 7,500 square feet, plus a tentative plan to make a 7,000-square-foot addition to urgent care.
In addition, after the new headquarters are built, Delatorre said they will likely add another 18,000 square feet for more medical services to the Land O’ Lakes facility.
“We can’t add any more physicians right now in Land O’ Lakes,” Delatorre said. “We’re brimming.”
Delatorre said Florida Medical has 110 physicians and another 40 employees who extend doctor’s ability to heal, such as nurses.
“The best thing to say is we are a progressive, multi-specialty physician-owned practice,” Delatorre said. “You can come to one location and have many health issues taken care of.”
Florida Medical currently has 17 facilities operating in Lutz, Land O’ Lakes, Wesley Chapel, Zephyrhills, Dade City, New Tampa, Carrollwood and North Tampa. Delatorre said Florida Medical’s proximity to hospitals like Florida Hospital Zephyrhills, Pasco Regional Medical Center, St. Joseph’s Hospital-North, University Community Hospital and the future Wesley Chapel Medical Center is one of its strengths.
“If you see one of our doctors, you can go to basically any of those hospitals,” Delatorre said. “That helps with insurance issues for the patient. … Also, with our electronic health record it integrates all of our facilities, so it’s seamless to go from one facility to the other.”
Florida Medical put its electronic medical records in place since 2006. It not only allows their doctors to see a patient’s health history, but also to see all the medications they might be taking.
“Just the medications alone for our seniors, a lot of time they don’t remember which ones they’re on,” Wing said. “Here the history is all in the records so the physicians make sure nothing interacts with something else they’re taking.”
As for any future expansions beyond what he listed, Delatorre grinned a little and said, “I have plenty more. Pasco County is an extension of Hillsborough County and there is a lot of activity going on here. We’ve been here for 17 years and developed a good reputation and recruited some great physicians. We are uniquely located in these markets and I think there is more to come.”
