Clearwater health system secures $8.35M in state funding

The just-approved and governor-signed $117 billion Florida budget includes $8.35 million for projects for Clearwater-based healthcare system BayCare.

The money, included in the state’s 2026-2027 budget, will fund care facilities in Pasco and Manatee counties as well Tampa and allows the system to expand care in the region.

In a statement Tuesday, BayCare says the projects are part of its “broader efforts to expand access to essential services across West Central Florida and meet growing demand in the communities” it serves.

BayCare currently operates 16 hospitals, including a children’s hospital in Tampa, and what it says are “hundreds of other convenient locations” throughout Tampa Bay and central Florida. BayCare  posted $7 billion in operating revenue in 2025, according to a financial report.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the budget Monday.

Here is what the funding will go toward:

• BayCare Hospital Manatee: $2.5 million to ensure there is a neonatal intensive care unit at BayCare Hospital Manatee when it opens next year in Parrish. The funding was sponsored by Senate President Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, and Rep. Will Robinson, R-Bradenton.
• Pasco County Central Receiving Facility: $4.65 million to connect individuals to behavioral health services at Pasco County Central Receiving Facility in New Port Richey. The funding was sponsored by Sen. Ed Hooper, R-Clearwater, and Rep. Brad Yeager, R-New Port Richey.
• St. Joseph’s Hospital: $1.2 million to provide coordinated, specialized care tailored to the needs of patients with complex medical conditions at the Daniel J. Plasencia, MD Children’s Chronic Complex Clinic and the Adult Chronic Complex Clinic in Tampa. The funding was sponsored by Sen. Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, and Rep. Traci Koster, R-Tampa.