BayCare to build new St. Joseph’s Children’s hospital by 2030

TAMPA — BayCare Health System plans to build a new St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital by 2030.

The hospital will be built on the existing campus at West Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, close to Raymond James Stadium. BayCare has not released details of the cost nor any future plans for the existing hospital.

In addition to the new facility, BayCare plans to offer more pediatric specialty medical services at the hospital. Pediatric graduate medical education programs, including teaching, research and training, will be expanded.

“BayCare wants West Central Florida’s children and families to continue to have access close to home to the best in medical care that combines the latest treatment innovations with our unmatched compassionate care,” said CEO and president Stephanie Conners in a statement. “These investments will make that possible.”

BayCare runs 16 hospitals in the Tampa Bay region. The vision for a new children’s hospital was approved by the nonprofit’s governing board at a meeting Tuesday evening, officials said. It will be the nonprofit’s fourth new hospital project in the past five years.

“This is really a significant investment from a capital perspective over a period of time,” said Keri Eisenbeis, BayCare’s chief of staff. “They have blessed this strategy.”

St. Joseph’s Children’s shares a campus with St. Joseph’s Hospital. The children’s facility was founded in 1990 and has 219 beds. It handled almost 35,000 emergency room visits, 13,000 births and roughly 4,900 outpatient surgeries in 2022, according to BayCare.

About 80 pediatric physician specialists representing 25 medical and surgical disciplines work at the hospital, which is home to the Steinbrenner Emergency/Trauma Center, a state-designated pediatric trauma center with the region’s largest team of board-certified pediatric emergency physicians.

The hospital also includes The Daniel J. Plasencia, MD Children’s Chronic Complex Clinic for the treatment of health issues including premature birth, cancer and blood diseases, congenital disorders, cerebral palsy and heart conditions.

BayCare is the region’s largest provider of pediatric services, with pediatric specialty clinics in Clearwater, Valrico, North Tampa, Riverview and Polk County. That demand is expected to grow in future years, said Sarah Naumowich, president of St. Joseph’s Children’s and Women’s hospitals.

“We feel it’s our responsibility as the largest provider to continue to develop to meet those needs,” she said. “In health care, to stand still is not an option when medical innovation is providing new opportunities every day to impact our patients’ lives.”