NSU and HCA East Florida to Create Research & Medical Center

HCA East Florida is filing a Certificate of Need (CON) with the Agency for Health Care Administration requesting approval to build and operate a hospital of up to 100 beds which will significantly enhance teaching and research on NSU’s main campus.  The Hospital will anchor NSU’s Academical Village, a Jeffersonian concept that is defined as “a community of scholars and student lives working closely together, combining theory and practice” and serve as the foundation for Broward County’s only comprehensive research and medical center. Teaching and research will serve as the cornerstone of this collaboration between NSU and HCA East Florida which will bring greater choice and access for patients in the community. NSU’s Academical Village plans include more than 3 million square feet of medical office, retail, residential, financial, hotel/conferencing, and governmental space, alongside NSU’s Health Care Clinics and contiguous to the university’s new Center for Collaborative Research facility, of which construction begins in 2014.  Approval of the CON is essential before the hospital can be built.

The proposed hospital, which will grow to become a major medical and research facility, will be privately owned by HCA East Florida.  No public funds will be utilized in construction of the hospital. HCA East Florida’s selection of this site for the hospital is in part due to the location of NSU’s main campus being located at the epicenter of the tri-county area, allowing the new hospital to serve all of South Florida.

The hospital will be located on an integral portion of NSU’s 315 acre doctoral high research university campus, home to the nation’s 9^th largest private, not-for-profit university. The natural synergies between the new HCA East Florida hospital and NSU include the university’s degree program offerings in osteopathic medicine, dental medicine, optometry, pharmacy, physical therapy, nursing, occupational therapy, physician assistant, anesthesiologist assistant, mental health, family therapy and more.  The hospital with its focus on teaching and research, will offer research, residencies, internships, clinical rotations, and practicums in these fields and others.

NSU President and CEO George L. Hanbury II, Ph.D., added the following, “But for the development of this hospital, Nova Southeastern University would be unable to complete its full vision for expansion of its research in cancer, diabetes, and other vital  medical research projects essential for the wellbeing of our community.  When combined with NSU’s Center for Collaborative Research, our plethora of medical researchers will have a hospital on its campus as an essential and critical component to fulfill their research protocols.  This collaboration of an HCA East Florida hospital and our doctoral high research university with its 22 different health care disciplines will expand the continuum of care for our clinic patients and the underserved communities and enhance access and choice, while creating best in class academic opportunities for our students and faculty.”

 HCA East Florida operates fourteen South Florida hospitals, twelve surgery centers, six diagnostic imaging centers, with close to 5,000 physicians and more than 15,000 employees. In 2012 HCA East Florida contributed $2.1 billion to the economy.   NSU currently contributes $2.6 billion to Florida’s economy and with its more than 4,000 faculty and staff is the largest private employer in Broward County. The hospital and adjoining NSU Center for Collaborative Research facility are expected to generate an estimated seven hundred professional and service support jobs to the region. The total annual economic impact of the Academical Village when completely built out is expected to exceed $1 billion.