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BayCare Health System

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
BayCare
Company typeNonprofit organization
IndustryHealthcare
FoundedJuly 1, 1997; in Clearwater, Florida
Headquarters,
Number of locations
16 hospitals[2] (2024)
Area served
Florida
Key people
Stephanie Connors (President/CEO):2022-present[3]
RevenueIncrease US$5.5 billion (2023)
Websitewww.baycare.org

BayCare Health System is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Clearwater, Florida, that operates 16 hospitals across Florida. In 2023, it was the third largest hospital network in Florida.[4]

History

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Early history

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BayCare can trace its roots to the CareFirst Health Network, a PPO network formed in 1995 by seven not-for-profit hospitals in Tampa Bay, with contracts with four others, which replaced SunHealth Care Plans-Gulf Coast[5]

By August of that year, it had been renamed BayCare Health Network Inc. due to trademark issues, and several member hospitals began withdrawing from other competing PPOs.[6][7] In 1996, the 14-hospital BayCare Health Network hired The Hunter Group in the face of increasing competition with Columbia/HCA's 14-hospital Tampa Bay Health System. William Anderson, president and CEO of South Florida Baptist Hospital at the time, expressed the possibility of a merger, and unnamed sources at BayCare "said the options range from forming a holding company with the hospitals retaining individual assets and partial autonomy to a full merger among some or all of the facilities."[8] Membership in either managed-care network was not necessarily exclusive, as All Children's Hospital was a member of both.[9] The Hunter Group presented BayCare with a 700-page report proposing a merger between 17 not-for-profit hospitals.[10]

In July 1997, acting on The Hunter Group's report, BayCare Health System was formed as a 50-year pact and joint operating agreement. Bayfront-St. Anthony's Health Care in St. Petersburg, Morton Plant Mease Health Care in Dunedin, and St. Joseph's-Baptist Health Care in Tampa formed BayCare as a seven hospital network, with Mease's two hospitals initially excluded due to a 1994 antitrust settlement regarding parent Morton Plant Mease. The corporate parties to the JOA included Allegany Health System, owner of St. Anthony's and St. Joseph's, Morton Plant Mease, Bayfront, and South Florida Baptist Hospital.[11]

  • Bayfront Medical Center
  • St. Anthony's Hospital
  • St. Joseph's Hospital
  • St. Joseph's Children's Hospital
  • St. Joseph's Women's Hospital
  • Morton Plant Hospital
  • South Florida Baptist Hospital

In March 1998, Morton Plant Mease Health Care Inc. began to manage North Bay Hospital in New Port Richey, before acquiring it entirely from Tenet Healthcare in a June 1999 transaction.[12]

2000-2009

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On October 23, 2000, over a controversy with the City of St. Petersburg regarding abortions, BayCare members voted 3–1 to remove Bayfront from the alliance, with South Florida Baptist Hospital, Morton Plant Health Care, and Catholic Health East voting to remove Bayfront. Bayfront was the only vote against. St. Anthony's Hospital had previously consolidated its obstetrics department with its long time partner Bayfront in May 1999, with Bayfront-St. Anthony's CEO Sue Brody stating at the time that no changes would come to Bayfront's willingness to perform sterilization or "medically necessary" abortion procedures. Shortly thereafter in July, BayCare head Frank Murphy announced that roughly 10 abortions per year that were allowed at Bayfront in the past were now considered disallowed due to Catholic restrictions. This prompted inquiry from the St. Petersburg City Council in September, as Bayfront leased much of its property from the city, as well as a federal lawsuit filed by the City of St. Petersburg against Bayfront and BayCare on March 30, 2000. Bayfront filed its own lawsuit against the City of St. Petersburg the following day, and a second lawsuit was filed against BayCare, Bayfront, and the City of St. Petersburg by the ACLU and other civil rights groups on August 16, 2000.[13] The partnership between Bayfront and St. Anthony's was formally dissolved on December 31, 2000.[14]

In November 2000, BayCare signed a letter of intent with All Children's Hospital to "create and jointly operate a not-for-profit children's healthcare system", amidst rumors the hospital may join BayCare.[15][16] The All Children's Health System would've provided healthcare to children at BayCare's hospitals, including Tampa Children's Hospital at St. Joseph's[17] but the deal was scrapped less than one year later citing cost issues.[18]

In April 2005, Morton Plant and Mease announced plans to finalize the merger they originally attempted in 1994, which the United States Department of Justice had initially blocked before limiting it in scope, and then reinvestigated in 1998.[19][20] The Department of Justice eventually allowed the Morton Plant Mease merger to close later that year by filing no objections, fully combining the boards of Morton Plant Mease Health Care, Mease Health Care and the Morton Plant Hospital Association. This allowed Mease Countryside Hospital and Mease Dunedin Hospital to fully combine their operations with Morton Plant's two hospitals after their ten-year partnership allowed them to share certain aspects of their planning and staffing. Mease's two hospitals joined BayCare's network, bringing their total number of hospitals up to 9.[21]

Mease's two hospitals agreed to stop performing elective abortions at their facilities after joining BayCare. This left former BayCare member Bayfront Medical Center as the only hospital in Pinellas County that would, less than five years after they themselves broke ties with BayCare due to their conflict with the City of St. Petersburg over abortions.[20]

2010-2019

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The groundbreaking event for St. Joseph's Hospital-South was held in Riverview, Florida on October 17, 2012.[22] The hospital opened on February 2, 2015.[23]

2020-present

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BayCare broke ground on a $246 million, 86-bed, 318,000-square foot hospital in Pasco County in December 2020.[24] On March 7, 2023, it opened as its 16th hospital, BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel.[25] BayCare revealed construction plans for BayCare Hospital Manatee in northern Manatee County on April 3, 2024, with construction scheduled to begin in October and plans to open by 2027. BayCare's 17th hospital will be Manatee's first non-profit hospital, as its other three hospitals are owned by for-profit corporations.[26]

On June 30, 2024, the original 50-year joint operating agreement that created BayCare was superseded by a permanent and "simplified corporate legal structure" with no intended changes to BayCare's current operations. Allegany Health System, the Catholic owner of both St. Joseph's and St. Anthony's, announced plans to merge with Providence Health Systems and Eastern Mercy Health System to form Catholic Health East shortly before BayCare Health System was formed in 1997, with that merger taking place in 1998. Catholic Health East itself merged with and became part of Trinity Health in 2012,[27] as a result Trinity Health held a 50.4% stake in BayCare,[28] until June 27, 2024, when a Definitive Agreement signed between the two transferred $4.0 billion in cash from BayCare and disaffiliated Trinity Health as a corporate member.[29] By restructuring, BayCare assumed full ownership of hospitals and other facilities previously owned by its members, including Morton Plant Mease's hospitals as well as South Florida Baptist Hospital. BayCare stated that the former Trinity Health hospitals in their network, St. Anthony's and the five St. Joseph's hospitals, would maintain their Catholic identity.[30][31]

Hospitals

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BayCare Hospitals
Photo Hospital Beds Location Opened Joined Helipad Notes
Bartow Regional Medical Center 72 Bartow, Florida 1925 2015 Aeronautical chart and airport information for 1FL7 at SkyVector
BayCare Alliant Hospital[32] 48 Dunedin, Florida 2008 2008 Long-term acute care hospital-within-a-hospital at Mease Dunedin
BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel 86 Wesley Chapel, Florida 2023 2023 Aeronautical chart and airport information for 7FL2 at SkyVector
Mease Countryside Hospital 387 Safety Harbor, Florida 1985 2005 Aeronautical chart and airport information for 36FL at SkyVector
Mease Dunedin Hospital 120 Dunedin, Florida 1937 2005 Aeronautical chart and airport information for FA04 at SkyVector
Morton Plant Hospital 599 Clearwater, Florida 1916 1997 Aeronautical chart and airport information for 06FL at SkyVector
Morton Plant North Bay Hospital 222 New Port Richey, Florida 1965 1999 Aeronautical chart and airport information for 6FA6 at SkyVector
South Florida Baptist Hospital 147 Plant City, Florida 1953 1997 Aeronautical chart and airport information for 02FL at SkyVector
St. Anthony's Hospital 448 St. Petersburg, Florida 1931 1997
St. Joseph's Children's Hospital 219 Tampa, Florida 1990 1997 Formerly Tampa Children's Hospital
St. Joseph's Hospital 615 Tampa, Florida 1934 1997 Aeronautical chart and airport information for FL38 at SkyVector
St. Joseph's Hospital-North 210 Lutz, Florida 2010 2010 Aeronautical chart and airport information for FA70 at SkyVector
St. Joseph's Hospital-South 223 Riverview, Florida 2015 2015 Aeronautical chart and airport information for 58FA at SkyVector
St. Joseph's Women's Hospital 100 Tampa, Florida 1974 1997
Winter Haven Hospital 447 Winter Haven, Florida 1926 2013 Aeronautical chart and airport information for 60FD at SkyVector
Winter Haven Women's Hospital 61 Winter Haven, Florida 1987 2013

Awards and recognitions

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BayCare has been recognized on the Tampa Bay Times Top Workplaces list for ten consecutive years as of 2024,[33] and USA Today ranked them 59 on their Top Workplaces USA 2024 list.[34] Both lists were "solely based on employee feedback gathered through the Energage employee engagement survey."


See also

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References

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  1. ^ "BayCare Health System". baycare.org. 2985 Drew St Clearwater, FL 33759 Phone: (727) 820-8200
  2. ^ "About BayCare". Retrieved 2024-10-16.
  3. ^ "BayCare Announces New CEO". baycare.org. Retrieved 2024-10-16.
  4. ^ "Top 20 largest IDNs and health systems in Florida | Definitive Healthcare". www.definitivehc.com. 2023-08-24. Retrieved 2024-10-16.
  5. ^ Greene, Jay (1995-02-20). "FLA. NOT-FOR-PROFITS FORM PPO NETWORK". Modern Healthcare. Retrieved 2024-10-16. TAMPA, Fla.-Seven not-for-profit hospitals in the Tampa Bay area have formed a network to offer PPO products to self-insured companies and other employers...CareFirst replaces a three-hospital network called SunHealth Care Plans-Gulf Coast, whose founding hospitals are part of Charlotte, N.C.-based SunHealth Alliance, Norsworthy said. CareFirst hospitals are Bayfront Medical Center, St. Anthony's Hospital and All Children's Hospital, all in St. Petersburg; St. Joseph's Hospital, St. Joseph's Women's Hospital, University Community Hospital and University Community Hospital-Carrollwood, all in Tampa; Mease Countryside Hospital, Safety Harbor; Mease Dunedin Hospital, Dunedin; Morton Plant Hospital, Clearwater; and South Florida Baptist Hospital, Plant City.
  6. ^ Greene, Jay (1995-08-07). "COLUMBIA'S FLORIDA PPO LOSES MAJOR HOSPITALS". Modern Healthcare. Crain Communications. Retrieved 2024-10-16. In the Tampa area, five not-for-profit hospitals operated by St. Joseph's-St. Anthony's Health System and Morton Plant Mease Health Care withdrew from Health Advantage to focus on the 12-hospital BayCare Health Network with which they are affiliated.
  7. ^ Bellandi, Deanna (1995-09-21). "Hospital looks to connect in new network". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2024-10-16. ...BayCare Health Network Inc., another locally owned managed-care network of hospitals, which includes Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg and Morton Plant Mease Health Care. BayCare was formerly known as the CareFirst Health Network, but it had to change its name because another company held a trademark.
  8. ^ Greene, Jay (1996-05-06). "THE WEEK IN HEALTHCARE;NETWORKS;BAYCARE EXPLORES OPTIONS TO COMPETE WITH COLUMBIA". Modern Healthcare. Crain Communications. Retrieved 2024-10-16. BayCare Health Network, a 14-hospital not-for-profit network based in Clearwater, Fla., has hired the Hunter Group of Tampa, Fla., to explore possibly merging or affiliating facilities or sharing services to become more competitive with Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp.
  9. ^ Greene, Jay (1996-02-18). "THE WEEK IN HEALTHCARE;TAMPA HOSPITAL DISCUSSING PARTNERSHIP WITH COLUMBIA". Modern Healthcare. Crain Communications. Retrieved 2024-10-16.
  10. ^ Greene, Jay (1996-10-07). "LONGTIME TAMPA CEO SET TO RETIRE". Modern Healthcare. Crain Communications. Retrieved 2024-10-16. Allegany also is reviewing a plan to merge operations with 16 other not-for-profit hospitals that are part of BayCare Healthcare Network. The merger plan is a recommendation from a 700-page report prepared by the Hunter Group, a St. Petersburg, Fla.-based consulting firm. A decision is expected to be made over the next six months, said Frank Murphy, president of three-hospital Morton Plant Mease Health Care, Dunedin. The other hospitals include Bayfront Medical Center, St. Petersburg, and South Florida Baptist Hospital, Plant City.
  11. ^ Limbacher, Patricia B. (1997-07-21). "FLA. SYSTEMS SIGN JOA FOR NETWORK". Modern Healthcare. Crain Communications. Retrieved 2024-10-16.
  12. ^ Verrier, Richard (1999-06-09). "North Bay bought by Morton". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2024-10-17.
  13. ^ ACLU of Florida (2000-08-16). "Hospital Merger Threatens Reproductive Rights". American Civil Liberties Union. Retrieved 2024-10-17.
  14. ^ Allison, Wes; Gilmer, Bryan (2000-10-24). "Bayfront to leave BayCare". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2024-10-16.
  15. ^ Allison, Wes (2000-10-31). "Will All Children's Hospital join BayCare?". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2024-10-16.
  16. ^ Lovern, Ed (2001-01-08). "2000 mergers and acquisitions". Modern Healthcare. Crain Communications. Retrieved 2024-10-16.
  17. ^ Allison, Wes (2001-03-24). "BayCare, All Children's pore over details of their pending merger". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2024-10-16.
  18. ^ Allison, Wes (2001-08-22). "Pediatric care plan canceled over costs". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2024-10-16.
  19. ^ Bellandi, Deanna (1999-01-31). "FLA. HOSPITAL PARTNERSHIP INVESTIGATED". Modern Healthcare. Crain Communications. Retrieved 2024-10-16.
  20. ^ a b "The Morton Plant-Mease merger". St. Petersburg Times. 2005-04-25. Retrieved 2024-10-17.
  21. ^ Samuels, Adrienne P. (2005-06-03). "Hospitals merge to create network". St.. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2024-10-17.
  22. ^ BayCare Health System (2012-10-17). "Groundbreaking Launches Construction of St. Joseph's Hospital-South". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2024-10-16.
  23. ^ WFLA (2015-02-02). "St. Joseph's opens new hospital in Riverview". baycare.org.
  24. ^ Condon, Alan (2023-03-07). "BayCare opens 16th hospital in Florida". www.beckershospitalreview.com. Retrieved 2024-10-16.
  25. ^ BayCare Health System (2023-03-07). "BayCare Opens New Hospital in Wesley Chapel". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2024-10-16.
  26. ^ O'Donnell, Christopher (2024-04-03). "BayCare to build its first hospital in Manatee County". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 2024-10-18.
  27. ^ Selvam, Ashok (2012-10-20). "Major merger Catholic Health East, Trinity deal stands out as hospitals, systems react to changes in healthcare". Modern Healthcare. Crain Communications. Retrieved 2024-10-17.
  28. ^ "TRINITY HEALTH UNAUDITED QUARTERLY REPORT As of March 31, 2024, and June 30, 2023, and For the nine months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023" (PDF). Trinity Health. Retrieved 2024-10-17.
  29. ^ "Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations for Trinity Health June 30, 2024" (PDF). Trinity Health. 2024-10-04. pp. 3, 7. Retrieved 2024-10-17.
  30. ^ "BayCare Begins Next Chapter". baycare.org. 2024-07-01. Retrieved 2024-10-16.
  31. ^ Asser, Jay (2024-10-15). "Trinity Health Back in the Black After Controlling Costs in FY 2024". www.healthleadersmedia.com. Retrieved 2024-10-16.
  32. ^ Cosdon, Christina (2008-04-11). "LONG-TERM CARE FACILITY OPEN AT MEASE DUNEDIN". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2024-10-17.
  33. ^ Griffin, Justine (2024-03-22). "Here's the full list of the 2024 Tampa Bay Times Top Workplaces". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 2024-10-18.
  34. ^ "Best places to work in 2024? Here's what US employees had to say about their employers". USA TODAY. 2024-03-19. Retrieved 2024-10-18.
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