With the right conditions, Tampa Bay becomes breeding ground for hospital construction

At least three major hospital construction projects are underway or have been recently completed in Tampa Bay, Fla., according to the Tampa Bay Business Journal.

Such projects include Tampa GeneralHospital's four-story, 130,000-square-foot outpatient medical center in Brandon, Fla.; Memorial Hospital of Tampa's 18,500-square-foot surgical services expansion; and BrandonRegionalHospital's 22,000-square-foot addition to its emergency room, according to the report.

Eric Obeck, senior regional president for Hancock Bank in Tampa, said the city's expanding population and payer mix makes it an attractive market for expanding healthcare services, according to the report. Mr. Obeck leads Hancock's expansion in healthcare lending division.

TampaBay is fertile ground for the construction of outpatient facilities because it is a certificate of need state, meaning approval from the Agency for Health Care Administration is required to build a new hospital or expand the number of beds within an existing hospital.  Building outpatient facilities in the region but off of the main hospital campus enables hospitals to expand their market share, according to Mr. Obeck.

The increase of strategic partnerships has also driven the construction of new facilities. "There are more and more affiliations happening these days between hospitals and physician groups. In some cases, those affiliations are being coupled with promises to expand facilities," Mr. Obeck said, according to the report.

At the same time, banks are actively seeking ways to make good loans, and they are competing to do so.

"This heightened competition amongst banks and availability of credit is making it attractive for healthcare providers to consider capital expansion projects right now. Those healthcare providers that are good credit risks are readily able to find capital," said Mr. Obeck, according to the report.

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