Lakeland’s Health Care (R)evolution
What the expansion of primary care, specialty and emergency services means for our booming population
PHOTOS BY MADI ELIZABETH, JORDAN RANDALL, AND PROVIDED BY HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS
While you may have questions about the infrastructure, how congestion will be managed, the quality of care that will be provided and the types of specialists who will be located in which facilities, the underlying cause of the healthcare explosion in Lakeland and Polk County is simple: the population has been growing for years at a rate that has been impossible for providers to match.
Just south of the Polk Parkway, cranes have been setting in place concrete beams and steel girders for months on a seven-story building; from I-4 you can’t miss Lakeland Regional Health’s Kathleen Campus, a state-of-the-art location that opened in late 2023 to provide primary care and family medicine services; and amongst all of its strip malls and fan favorite chain stores and restaurants, Florida Avenue is finally getting standalone emergency rooms to serve the thousands of families whose lives intersect with the arterial road daily.
And Orlando Health just announced on March 11 that it is joining forces with Watson Clinic in a partnership that will be actualized in June 2026 with the opening of the Orlando Health Watson Clinic Lakeland Highlands Hospital.
U.S. News and World Report gives Polk County a score of 43 out of 100 for “overall population health,” which doesn’t necessarily take into account all the nuances of a county as large and diverse as Polk County, but does utilize reliable data from sources like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Directly off the Lakeland Highlands Rd. exit of the Polk Parkway, a 302-bed, 580,000+ square foot hospital is being constructed. The Orlando Health Watson Clinic Lakeland Highlands Hospital is expected to open in June 2026.
For years it has been known that access to medical care, especially primary care physicians, has been lacking. A 2020 study by the Florida Department of Health revealed Polk County had a population to primary care physician ratio of 2,030:1, nearly double the national benchmark of 1,050:1, and that was before the explosive population growth during and after the pandemic.
Health care can sometimes feel like a riddle to be solved. We all want the access to the best, most effective care, but most people would prefer to avoid hospitals and medical clinics as much as possible; every health care system wants to serve all needs from birth to end of life, but limited facilities, a changing workforce and technology and training all play a role in the different specialties and associated rankings and credibility each provider can offer; and within the most reliable, credible health care systems there are bound to be problems, just as a system perpetually rated below average by people online can be home to tremendous medical professionals.
Lakeland Regional Health (LRH) is in its 110th year of providing care locally and is expanding rapidly, evident by the fact it has grown from approximately 5,000 employees to nearly 8,000 employees in a little more than a decade, and it has opened a center for behavioral wellness and launched a graduate medical education program in the last three years, among a multitude of other shifts.
LRH CEO Danielle Drummond, who has worked at the hospital since 2013 and been at the helm as CEO since 2020, says meeting the evolving needs of healthcare locally requires grassroots efforts combined with high-level strategic planning.
“I [ask myself], ‘What is it that our community needs when it comes to healthcare services so that we can allow them to lead their healthiest life?,’” Drummond says. “And I think that starts with making sure that there’s good access locally. We want our patients to be able to get in timely and to get into the types of services that they need here.”
That’s the impetus for new locations like the Kathleen Campus that opened in 2023 to provide primary care, family care, specialty care and urgent care to people on the North side, as well the new standalone ER on South Florida Ave. in South Lakeland that opened on March 10.
Drummond often acknowledges she feels very fortunate to have what she deems a “very experienced board of directors” that consists of local leaders who understand the pulse of the community. While LRH doesn’t have as many capital assets as some of the larger health care systems opening new facilities in Lakeland—like AdventHealth, BayCare and Orlando Health—Drummond said her leadership’s passion to bring excellence to all aspects of the community is a driving factor for future success, and could be seen as an upper hand because they have more intimate knowledge of our population.
“Something that makes Lakeland Regional Health special is we are very mission driven and we’re trying to meet all the healthcare needs of our community, regardless of what the financial ROI might look like on the services,” Drummond says.
She notes that LRH’s expansion of behavioral services since the opening of the Harrell Family Center for Behavioral Wellness is a clear example of that. Many times reimbursements from insurance providers do not cover the cost of care, but LRH continues to make significant investments in those services because of how vital they are to the community’s long-term health.
“We continue to see 25 to 30 percent year over year growth in that facility so we’re continuing to add services that we haven’t had previously,” she says. “We recently started an intensive outpatient therapy program where patients that are not in the category of needing to be hospitalized are able to come to us several days a week for several hours at a time.”
Just down the road from LRH’s new South Lakeland ER will soon be BayCare’s freestanding emergency department, the third such department in Polk County opened by the largest health care provider in West Central Florida, but its first in Lakeland.
Its construction is concurrent with a $110 million expansion of Bartow Regional Medical Center that will increase it from 72 to 90 beds and upgrade its catheterization lab, surgical services and emergency department.
Why is the not-for-profit health care system that consists of nearly 32,000 team members and operates 16 hospitals keen on being part of the health care boom in Polk County?
“We’re really about smart growth and what the community needs. What are the services that we need to come in to help compete and provide for those who live in the community?” Chief Ambulatory Services Officer Todd Jones asks, noting the population of Polk County is expected to grow roughly 10 percent over the next five years. “The beauty of being part of a healthy system is [our] protocols help drive connectivity…and if a higher level of need is not being met currently in the community we know where they can get that care. That part of the connection to being part of the health system.”
Jones mentions how pediatric patients in Lakeland and Bartow have continuity of service with St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa and touts the Family Medicine Residency Program sponsored by Florida State University at Winter Haven Hospital.
He said BayCare is actively looking for the right location to expand into the Kathleen area because the population continues to be underserved, and its proximity to I-4 makes it accessible from many surrounding municipalities.
While the majority of BayCare’s team members live outside of Polk County, the local hospital boards are made up of community members who live and work in the communities they serve. Jones said recently he and other staff visited Gospel Village, a local nonprofit BayCare supports that provides housing and employment opportunities for individuals who were formerly homeless.
Another health care powerhouse that originates from beyond the Polk County line is Orlando Health. They seek to accelerate their influence and their offerings in Lakeland through a formal affiliation with Watson Clinic that is part of the roll out for the 300+ bed Lakeland Highlands Hospital that is expected to open in summer 2026.
“By combining our respective strengths, we are able to provide a level of care and service that expands both our capabilities while enhancing patient care,” said Carlos Carrasco, senior vice president, Orlando Health Midwest Region, in a press release.
No details were immediately available regarding what that would mean for Watson Clinic patients or staff until the new facility opens, but in a press release CEO Jason Hirsbrunner said patients can expect “expanded access to the doctors and care they trust the most.”
When complete, the 580,000+ square foot Lakeland Highlands Hospital will have 69 emergency and observation beds, 11 operating rooms, an 18-bed ICU and 16 patient rooms to support a women’s birthing program.
Affiliations, partnerships and even mergers are common these days. In 2021, AdventHealth and Bond Clinic in Winter Haven announced an affiliation to improve access to primary and specialty care. In 2023, the Winter Haven-based Gessler Clinic was acquired by BayCare to bolster its offerings in Polk County.
AdventHealth will be a significant player in the future of health care for Lakelanders, after receiving approval last year from the Lakeland City Commission for a 400-bed hospital with a helicopter pad at the southeast corner of Harden Blvd. and Frontage Rd./Polk Parkway.
The site plan includes 200,000 square feet of medical office space, as well as roughly 200,000 square feet of retail and commercial space.
At a City Commission meeting, AdventHealth Director of Real Estate Michael Lawson said the emergency department for the hospital could open as soon as late 2026, with the rest of the build out to follow.
When you add in the fact a brand new Veteran Affairs clinic opened in South Lakeland in 2024 and Central Florida Health Care is tripling the size of its Lakeland clinic to provide health care and dentistry services to low-income families, it’s clear that the health care competition is in full force.
“From a consumer/patient perspective, this really is good,” Jones says about so many entities working diligently to be the preferred provider of families in Lakeland and Polk County. “Whenever we are competing to provide those services it helps to drive to make us better. We have always had top level performance and quality and patient safety indicators and patient experience.”
Drummond said that LRH is highly in tune with the daily experiences of its employees because a healthy culture is a necessity to be able to expand and serve the community at a higher capacity in the future. “Job number one for me is to make sure that we understand what’s important to our team members to want to work at Lakeland Regional Health to feel like they’re bringing their best self to work every day,” she says.
“Something that makes Lakeland Regional Health special is we are very mission driven and we’re trying to meet all the healthcare needs of our community, regardless of what the financial ROI might look like on the services.”
AdventHealth, which has plans to build a 400-bed hospital at the southeast corner of Harden Blvd. and Frontage Rd./Polk Parkway, has medevac crews stationed at Lakeland International Airport.
GROWING EXPERTISE FROM THE INSIDE
If knowledge is power, then Lakeland’s health care providers can unequivocally say they are powering up.
AdventHealth offers more than 25 ACGME-accredited Graduate Medical Education programs and has had more than 1,000 physicians complete its wide array of programs the past 50 years.
These programs, along with a number of fellowship options continue to expand into more specialties in more locations, which could be an indicator that down the road AdventHealth’s presence in Lakeland could include these formative career opportunities.
BayCare has a goal of having more than 600 residents in its GME program by 2029, according to Jones. One of its flagship programs is its Family Medicine Residency Program at Winter Haven Hospital sponsored by Florida State University.
As part of its evolution, LRH launched a GME program in 2023, and it now offers eight specialties with plans to add more. A new psychiatry residency clinic is slated to open soon on Missouri Ave. downtown.
Drummond says the GME is a great pipeline for physicians that helps them envision a future where they want to stay and practice in the community. It also provides better overall quality of care for patients because it allows for more patient-staff interactions throughout the care process.
“The best hospitals are teaching hospitals and you add the research,” Drummond says. “And it for sure helps with the reputation of our institution.”
MAY THE BEST EMPLOYER WIN
More beds at more hospitals and more examination rooms at more clinics means jobs galore. It’s no coincidence that Polk State College is investing more resources in developing health care degree programs than ever before and Polk County Schools continues to announce partnerships with local health care providers they hope will be a catalyst to develop future leaders of health care.
A quick online search reveals that, as of March 10, LRH had more than 200 job openings and BayCare had more than 150 jobs listed for its Bartow, Lakeland and Winter Haven locations.
Hundreds of more jobs in the medical field are expected to be in the mix soon as Orlando Health prepares to open its hospital in South Lakeland.
Drummond said LRH is constantly looking for the finest health care professionals locally, regionally and nationally, and a key aspect of expanding effectively is first taking care of the individuals already on your payroll.
“We’ve been focusing a lot on culture. How do we do events that allow the team to feel like they’re engaged with each other?” she says. “We really have been purposeful in trying to celebrate successes, recognizing team members that do a great job.”
LRH also hosts events like team member marketplaces that allow employees to show off their crafting, baking or entrepreneurial skills to encourage camaraderie and build stronger connections.
Jones said one reason many BayCare staff members love their employer is because of its commitment to giving back to the community, evident by the $557 million the health care system states it provided in 2023 through charity care, uncompensated care and investment in public health strategies.
BayCare is actively recruiting physicians for family medicine, internal medicine, pediatric care and anesthesiology among other specialties, and there are dozens of other positions
“Our CEO loves to say that patients come for the physicians and they stay for the staff,” he says. “I totally agree with her because once you get there, it’s how you’re treated and the experience that you have.”