New $500M hospital with 300-plus beds to open in Lakeland

For the first time in more than a century, Lakeland is getting a new hospital. 

Orlando Health Watson Clinic Lakeland Highlands Hospital. with more than 300 beds, held a grand opening preview Thursday before it officially opens its doors to Polk County patients on July 8.

The new hospital is the 50th Orlando Health facility to open in Florida and represents an investment of more than $500 million, according to a release. Planning, construction and hiring for the new facility took roughly six years to complete. 

“Orlando Health is honored to partner with Watson Clinic in the planning, design and operation of this hospital,” says David Strong, president and CEO of Orlando Health, in the release. 

Orlando Health has undergone a major expansion in recent years through building and acquiring a number of existing hospitals and hospital systems, the release says. A free-standing emergency department is currently under construction in North Lakeland and is scheduled to open in October. 

“Our patients will still be able to see the physicians they have grown to trust throughout their lives, but we’ve also added Orlando Health physicians for those services that Watson Clinic doesn’t offer,” says Orlando Health Watson Clinic Lakeland Highlands Hospital President Carlos Carrasco. “In addition, we are bringing the most advanced medical-care technology available for cardiology, neurology and newborn treatment.” 

The new hospital spans 558,233 square feet and sits on an 80-acre parcel at 4000 Lakeland Highlands Road. The seven-story building houses 306 patient beds and 49 emergency room beds, the release says. The hospital also has eight labor and delivery beds, 28 post-partum rooms and two Cesarean-section operating rooms. A neonatal intensive care unit will be added to the facility in the coming months, with 12 beds for babies who need specialized care after birth.

The hospital is equipped with two heart catheterization labs and a 3-T Magnetic Resonance Imagining machine, which provides significantly higher-resolution images compared to standard MRI machines, the release says. Neurosurgeons and neurologists will have access to a biplane radiology scanner — a dual-angle imaging and intervention tool that helps diagnose and treat complex brain and vascular conditions, like strokes, brain aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations, and certain spinal procedures. 

Lakeland Mayor Pro Tem Guy LaLonde Jr., says the hospital represents one of the largest capital investments in Polk County in 25 years. 

“The hospital hired 1,500 employees and is offering full scholarship programs for both full and part-time employees,” LaLonde says in the release. “That alone will give hope to and change the lives of the residents in Lakeland and Polk County.”

Orlando Health is a private, nonprofit integrated academic health care system with $15 billion of assets under management and facilities throughout the southeastern United States and Puerto Rico.