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FORT MYERS — After almost two decades of co-ownership of Bonita Community Health Center, Lee Health and NCH Healthcare System reached an agreement for Lee Health to become the sole owner of the facility.
Lee Health’s publicly elected board of directors approved the purchase at its board meeting on Oct. 31, according to a news release. Financial details were not released.
The Bonita center is a 100,000-square-foot facility with physician offices, an urgent care center, diagnostics and imaging, a surgery center and physical therapy services. It opened in December 2000 as a joint operation of NCH and Lee Health with 50/50 ownership. At the time, south Lee County was beginning to grow rapidly but was medically underserved.
“Changing to a single owner will place Bonita Community Health Center in a stronger position to better serve south Lee County,” Larry Antonucci, president and CEO of Lee Health, says in the release. “This acquisition creates the opportunity for Lee Health to plan services between BCHC and Lee Health Coconut Point as sister facilities, clinically and operationally coordinated to meet the needs of this growing community.”
While NCH will no longer have an ownership interest in BCHC, it will continue to serve the community through other nearby facilities, including NCH Healthcare Bonita, a 24-hour emergency center with imaging and physician practices on U.S. 41, as well as a comprehensive outpatient medical facility further south on U.S. 41 at Bonita Beach Road.
Lee Health has no immediate operational changes planned at the time of acquisition. Patients will continue to see the same familiar physicians and providers and staffing changes are not anticipated, the release states.
Bonita Community Health Center is at 3501 Health Center Blvd. in Bonita Springs, just south of the intersection of U.S. 41 and Coconut Road.
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