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Hospital proposed for care of very ill
By JENNIFER LIBERTO A new kind of hospital could be coming to Hernando County. HealthSouth Corp. has applied to build a 40-bed hospital in Hernando County that would care for the sickest patients who need intense care for long periods of time, according to the Agency for Health Care Administration. They're called long-term acute care hospitals, and only eight exist in the state, agency spokeswoman Kim Reed said. However, the state has lately been inundated with requests to build more of these hospitals. Patients at these hospitals usually stay for at least 25 days and often longer. Many require ventilators to breathe, said Mario Mudano, chief executive of HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital in Brooksville. "There's not that much more that can be done for them in a hospital, but they they still need acute care services, and they can't go home," Mudano said. At this point, HealthSouth does not have an exact location for the proposed Hernando County hospital, Mudano said. The AHCA will review the application and decide whether the area needs such a long-term acute care hospital, which the health care industry calls LTACs. The Hernando County long-term acute care hospital would bolster HealthSouth's already increased presence in the county, which previously was relegated to a small outpatient clinic. HealthSouth just built a new 60-bed rehabilitation hospital, which is scheduled to open in April. Based in Birmingham, Ala., HealthSouth Corp. is known as the largest provider of rehabilitation and outpatient surgery services. But it does have several long-term acute care hospitals, including one in Sarasota, spokeswoman Kristi Gilmore said. HealthSouth is strengthening its long-term acute care division, but Gilmore could not say late Friday how many such hospitals HealthSouth currently has or intends to build. In February, HealthSouth also applied to build long-term acute care hospitals in Tallahassee and Stuart, according to the AHCA. HealthSouth has also filed incorporation records establishing several similar companies with the Florida Department of State that suggest that it intends to put such hospitals in Tampa, Jacksonville and Bay County. Despite such planned growth, HealthSouth has lately struggled. Last week, it reported a loss of $406-million, or $1.03 a share, for the quarter ending Dec. 31, after showing a $67.9-million profit a year earlier. HealthSouth is also under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as the FBI following the sale of $25-million worth of stock by its chief executive just weeks before a negative earnings announcement in August. HealthSouth has 21 facilities in the Tampa Bay area. HealthSouth spokesman Christopher Ballish said the company had received several letters from community leaders, physicians and residents supporting its application to build a long-term acute care hospital in Hernando County. "We felt that this county could support an LTAC," Ballish said. -- Jennifer Liberto covers business and development in Hernando County and can be reached at 848-1434 or liberto@sptimes.com
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