Palm Beach County's largest hospital network is marching up the Treasure Coast with plans to build a hospital in St. Lucie County.
The move by Tenet Healthcare, the Texas-based for-profit health care giant, comes as more residents pour into the region and rival medical providers vie for new and often wealthy patients.
Tenet plans to build its first Treasure Coast facility on 25 acres at Becker Road and Florida's Turnpike, said Maggie Gill, chief executive of the Palm Beach Health Network, which oversees five Palm Beach County hospitals.
The 54-bed hospital, the Florida Coast Medical and Surgical Center, will offer surgical services including orthopedics, spine, robotics, general surgery and advanced cardiac care, as well as diagnostic services.
The site has room for two medical office towers, one of which will be built immediately.
This expansion will allow the Palm Beach Health Network to extend its acute-care health system to provide care to patients in Martin and St. Lucie counties through a sister organization, the Florida Coast Health Network.
Tenet already has existing outpatient surgery centers in the Treasure Coast, Gill said. But this is the company's first in-patient facility north of Palm Beach County, where Tenet owns Good Samaritan and St. Mary's medical centers in West Palm Beach; Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center; Delray Medical Center in Delray Beach; and West Boca Medical Center in suburban Boca Raton.
Gill said the expansion not only will serve new residents moving to the area, but it also will make it easier for existing patients who now have to drive south to Palm Beach County for in-patient hospitalization at Tenet-owned hospitals.
Tenet recently revealed it is spending $150 million to upgrade cardiac, neurology, orthopedic and maternity services across its hospitals.
The upgrades will be completed by the end of 2022. Tenet hospitals account for more than 1,900 beds in Palm Beach County.
Tenet's growth comes as rival health care companies are opening clinics and hospitals.
UF Health recently announced it is expanding into Palm Beach County through an affiliation with Jupiter Medical Center, a non-profit hospital in Jupiter.
In a recent statement, both entities said their affiliation would provide "the best of academic and community medicine" to patients in Palm Beach and Martin counties.
In an interview, Dr. Amit Rastogi, Jupiter Medical Center president and chief executive, said Jupiter Medical and UF Health are exploring whether to open patient clinics in Martin County, too.
Last year, the University of Miami Health System opened a major medical clinic on the waterfront in West Palm Beach. UHealth also opened a concierge family medicine practice in Palm Beach.
UHealth officials said many new Palm Beach County residents who relocated from the Northeast, Midwest and even California are used to top-notch teaching hospitals with an academic focus and a heavy emphasis on research. The clinic's goal is to treat existing patients, attract new ones and establish a base for an expanded medical presence in the county.
Meanwhile, Universal Health Services, which also owns Wellington Regional Medical Center, wants to build a 150-bed hospital and "shell" space for 150 more beds in Palm Beach Gardens.
In addition, Birmingham, Ala.-based Encompass Health wants to build a 50-bed rehabilitation hospital planned, also in Palm Beach Gardens. And farther south, west of Delray Beach, a 24-bed specialty hospital for orthopedic medicine is under construction and set to open in 2024.
Construction on Tenet's Florida Coast Network hospital in Port St. Lucie could start by the fall, with completion slated for late 2024, Gill said.
St. Lucie County has three other hospitals: Cleveland Clinic Tradition Hospital, HCA Florida St. Lucie Hospital and Port St. Lucie Hospital.
Alexandra Clough is a business writer at the Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at aclough@pbpost.com. Twitter: @acloughpbp. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.