UF Health to open neighborhood hospital in Ocala

UF Health to open new neighborhood hospital in Ocala.
UF Health plans to open new neighborhood hospital in Ocala by the spring of 2024. (Courtesy UF Health)
Courtesy UF Health

University of Florida Health is bringing its patient care and nationally recognized medical expertise to Ocala with a new neighborhood hospital.

The 150,000-square-foot hospital will include 10 emergency department rooms, 10 inpatient rooms, a medical imaging center, four surgical operating rooms and other features. Construction is underway at a 28-acre site at Northwest Blichton Road and Northwest 35th Avenue Road, just east of Interstate 75. The facility is expected to be completed in spring 2024.   

The three-story facility will also have an outpatient center for lab draws, the UF Health Rehab Clinic – Ocala, an anesthesia pre-operative center, physician office space and room for future expansion.

Become A Member

Mainstreet does not have a paywall, but pavement-pounding journalism is not free. Join your neighbors who make this vital work possible.

UF Health Dr. David Nelson
Courtesy UF Health Dr. David Nelson

The new hospital is a natural addition that brings UF Health’s highly skilled physicians and sought-after health care to the heart of Marion County, said Dr. David R. Nelson, senior vice president for health affairs at UF and president of UF Health.

“Many families in the Ocala area have entrusted UF Health with the care of their family and loved ones. Now, they will have access to quality emergency care, surgical services and an inpatient hospital even closer to home,” Nelson said.

The hospital’s emergency facilities will include seven emergency examination rooms as well one exam room each for triage and trauma. In addition to the operating rooms, the surgery center will have 12 pre- and post-operative beds. The imaging center will include two general x-ray rooms, two computerized tomography (CT) rooms, an ultrasound room and one magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) suite. On the second and third floors, patients will find physical therapy and rehabilitation services, the anesthesia pre-operative center and physician’s offices.

In early 2020, UF Health acquired hospitals in Leesburg and The Villages®. In March, UF Health began an expansion that includes a second inpatient tower at its north Jacksonville campus. More recently, state officials recently committed $80 million for a state-of-the-art trauma center at UF Health Jacksonville.

UF Health Shands Hospital also has more nationally ranked adult and pediatric specialties than any hospital in Florida, according to the most recent U.S. News & World Report rankings.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments