Florida Medical Clinic has found a lot of success in pulling all kinds of providers into a single location, making it a one-stop haven for patients.
Locations on SR 56 in Land O’ Lakes and US 301 in Zephyrhills have done just that for years, and now North Tampa is getting the same thing with its North Dale Mabry Highway location.
Florida Medical Clinic is finally bringing all of its Carrollwood providers together under one roof, recycling a former Borders location at 12500 N. Dale Mabry Highway.
“The project in Carrollwood is a natural extension of our practices,” said Joe Delatorre, chief executive officer of Florida Medical Clinic. “We are only growing contiguously, and we want to keep that multi-specialty group concept where people can access as many systems as possible. And that just made sense for us on Dale Mabry.”
The doors have already opened for the Carrollwood office, and by the end of September, patients should have access to 27 providers from 12 different specialties. It will range from internal medicine, orthopedics and gastroenterology, to facial plastics, pulmonology and cardiology.
“People want to get in, get what they need done, and get out of there as quickly as they can,” Delatorre said. “We understand that, so we’ve made it efficient without sacrificing any of our quality.”
Expansion efforts for Florida Medical are not just stopping there. The company has partnered with DaVita Healthcare Partners Inc. in building a 12,000-square-foot facility on Eiland Boulevard in Zephyrhills that will serve as both a dialysis center and additional doctor offices.
“Patients will absolutely love this location,” Delatorre said. “We took it off the main road a bit, but it’s easy to get to, will have nice parking, and it’ll have a lot of room.”
When the facility opens in November, it will replace a much smaller dialysis center at Florida Medical’s primary Zephyrhills campus on US 301 just north of CR 54. This new location is just a few miles away, and dialysis patients will now have a chance to avoid some of the wintertime congestion that plagues US 301.
Florida Medical bought the vacant 1.5 acres of land in May for $35,000. It’s the first time the clinic has purchased land in Zephyrhills that is not part of its main campus, which is quickly running out of space. Space is at a premium at the former home of Kmart and Publix in Zephyrhills, especially once Florida Medical completes a $5 million expansion of its urgent care facility.
“It’s already on an outparcel in front of the property, and it’s perfectly located for easy access for our patients,” Delatorre said.
Urgent care is a fast-growing industry, especially as people look for medical resources that are both cost-effective and convenient. The expanded facility — which will double in size to 7,000 square feet — will be open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
What separates Florida Medical Clinic’s urgent care facility from others is the fact that doctors will have full access to each patient’s electronic medical records, Delatorre said. These records detail everything a patient has had done with any Florida Medical Clinic provider, eliminating the need to duplicate tests, and give an urgent care doctor the full medical picture he or she needs.
“You can’t always get to your existing primary care physician, so we’re providing a quality alternative that still has all the services available, and the overall experience you’re accustomed to with us,” Delatorre said.
The growth of Florida Medical Clinic has been brisk in recent years, first opening a location in Dade City, and then turning its sights south toward Tampa.
The company opened up in Wesley Chapel in 2001, and by 2003, Florida Medical had made significant strides into north Tampa.
Although the Florida Medical Clinic customer service model hasn’t changed, the medical industry has. If a practice isn’t attuned to what’s happening with federal healthcare reform, for example, they may be left struggling to keep up.
“You have to adapt to what’s going on in the marketplace,” Delatorre said. “The reality of it is the Affordable Care Act provides a solution to make sure everyone has basic health insurance. Patients will now have that funding mechanism, and that is a good thing for us. It means more people will want to access our services, and because of that, we can stay in the business of taking care of people.”
