Florida Hospital, UCF team at Lake Nona
Florida Hospital and UCF College of Medicine are partnering in Lake Nona to provide primary care, specialty care and diagnostic services, they announced Wednesday.
As the two main tenants of Gateway Lake Nona, a sleek, 100,000-square-foot medical office building that broke ground in 2013 at the corner of Tavistock Lakes Boulevard and Narcoossee Road, they said it only made sense for them to partner up and provide services that are complementary.
Florida Hospital Medical Group is providing primary and specialty services, in addition to imaging and rehabilitation. UCF Health, the faculty practice of the medical school, also provides primary-care services and specialty services.
“When a patient has seen a UCF doctor and may need to see a Florida Hospital doctor, there will be a seamless ability to schedule, to transfer records and to make these things happen. And we hope that this will delight and inspire patients,” said UCF Dean Dr. Deborah German.
Gateway is one of the first nonhospital patient-care sites near Lake Nona Medical City and yet another sign of the area’s growth. It is also the second clinic for UCF Health, and a unique collaboration between an academic entity and a health system.
“What a medical school brings to the table is curiosity, and the spirit of inquiry, which means that in everything we do, we’re constantly asking ourselves, is this good for the patient? How can we be better?” German said.
Brian Paradis, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Florida Hospital, said the partnership at Gateway is “bringing the power and focus of taking care of patients with the power and focus of educating physicians and makes something powerful that sits in the middle, and has the benefit of really elevating the patient experience.”
UCF Health has offices, including 12 exam rooms, on the first floor, which also houses Florida Hospital’s imaging and rehab centers. Florida Hospital occupies the second floor with 24 exam rooms and a laboratory area. The top floor of
the building still sits empty, but will eventually be an ambulatory-surgery center.
Dr. Anteneh Addisu, an assistant professor at UCF College of Medicine and a physician at UCF Health, described the office setup as “warm and homey” on Wednesday, as live jazz filled the air and two stiltwalkers dressed as flowers and greenery tried to entertain the guests.
UCF Health opened in the Gateway building in March, and Florida Hospital Medical Group will open April 20. Leaders said the practices are open to all Central Floridians whose insurance is accepted by the entities.