Residents on the city's Northside will soon have a new medical facility in their area.
UF Health Jacksonville, formerly known as Shands, broke ground today near the River City Marketplace
CEO Russ Armistead says they’re expanding on the Northside because the population in that area is growing so rapidly.
"If you look at healthcare in Jacksonville, it is substantially all to the South of the river," he said.
"We have 3 or 4 physicians offices and there are some other primary care offices in this area. But there’s no hospital. There’s no emergency room. It just doesn’t exist up here."
The $60 million, 210,000 square foot facility will include an emergency room, surgery center and doctor’s offices. For the time being will not have hospital beds as the state has yet to grant UF Health a required certificate of need. A judge recently ruled in favor of an appeal by Memorial Hospital, agreeing that a new hospital wasn’t needed in Jacksonville.
Last week UF Health filed another application with the state for a certificate of need. The new medical facility is slated to open in January of 2015 and they hope to expand services in the future.
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