Florida State, Tallahassee Memorial launch new academic health system

It’s a process that has been years in the making, but a new academic health system known as FSU Health is being created.

Florida State University and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare have finalized agreements to establish FSU Health. Leaders of the systems signed the paperwork outlining long-term governance plans this week.

Under the framework, Tallahassee Memorial will run the daily operations of Tallahassee Memorial Hospital under the FSU Health brand, as well as a new 100-bed hospital being built in Panama City Beach. That hospital is slated to open next year. Tallahassee also will operate physician offices and outpatient clinics under the FSU Health brand.

Florida State is also opening a new health research building on the Tallahassee Memorial campus. The $125 million facility is slated to open in the fall.

Tallahassee Memorial and Florida State have been talking about building an academic health system for years and began plans in 2021. Tallahassee Memorial, which had been owned by the city of Tallahassee, was sold to Florida State earlier this year.

Growing over time

Mark O’Bryant, chief executive officer of Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, said in a video from FSU Health that the partnership with Florida State will expand the system’s services for patients.

“Quite frankly, from a point of differentiation, this will allow us to bring more academic programs to bear, more residencies, more fellowships,” Bryant says. “It'll expand our research platform. It'll give people access to services they've never had before. The most exciting thing this will bring to patients is access to services that they may not have had before.”

Bryant also said that the expansion of offerings will take place gradually.

“It's not automatic,” he says. “Academic health centers are not light switch strategies; they just don't happen. They grow over time.”

“But now we have all of the partnership models in place to allow us to bring those new programs to our community. This includes research, this includes more specialized care, bringing in services that people have had to travel away to get. But also it gives us an opportunity to really build on some academic programming that will improve the quality of care as well,” Bryant says.

Richard McCullough, president of Florida State University, said in a video message that the partnership with Tallahassee Memorial to develop FSU Health is about “creating an even better healthcare environment than we have now.”

“We have very good healthcare in this region, but to take it to the next level is really our goal in this partnership,” McCullough said.

He touted the prospects of offering more comprehensive health options in Tallahassee.

“People won't have to travel as much to go get care outside the city, and we hope to, you know, 10, 20 years from now, create that environment where you know you can get almost anything done here in Tallahassee,” McCullough said.

A regional presence

Officials say they are aiming to go beyond Tallahassee and are looking to extend services across northern Florida and the panhandle.

“Being an academic center is a differentiator,” O’Bryant said. “It allows you to provide services and to draw in populations from a broader area. If we want to become a true academic center, we have to have a more of a large regional presence. So you can start thinking about not just going out 50, 60, 70, miles, which we do now, but now we'll draw the line out hundreds of miles as we become more specialized.”

O’Bryant said he’s enthusiastic about tapping more into the fast-growing Panama City Beach area, saying it’s going to be a key part of the strategy moving forward.

“We've been expanding out for quite some time into smaller communities,” he said. “But Panama City is a growth market; it's growing much faster than Tallahassee, one of the fastest growing markets in our community or in our state.”

In addition to offering more services for patients in Tallahassee, officials with the institutions say they expand to attract more patients from outside the region.

“We want Tallahassee to be a center of care where people feel not only comfortable here coming to our services, but people from well beyond our boundaries look at Tallahassee as a place for outstanding, cutting-edge, clinically excellent care,” he said.

With the long-term agreement, the institutions have agreed to a new governance structure. While Tallahassee Memorial will oversee operations, Florida State will be able to nominate candidates for boards in Tallahassee and Panama City Beach. The agreement does preserve Tallahassee’s existing charity care policies.

FSU Health says there are no changes to insurance plans that are accepted, and the new system says it’s not looking to burden patients with additional costs. Officials say patients will continue to receive care from the doctors and other health professionals that they know.