Florida State University (FSU) may buy Tallahassee Memorial Hospital (TMH).
FSU and TMH representatives convened at the beginning of the month for a special commissioners meeting to discuss the proposed acquisition.
Officials held a public hearing and memorandum of understanding (MOU), but no formal agreements were signed.
Commissioner Jack Porter Facebook Post Oct. 1
FSU outlined plans to transform TMH into an academic health center, modeling institutions such as UF Health facilities in Jacksonville and Gainesville. The presentation emphasized workforce retention as a key objective.
"The Association of American Medical Colleges projects a shortage of over 85,000 physicians by 2036,” according to the National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM) report published in March.
Several factors, including burnout and too few qualified workers, have been cited as contributors to the healthcare worker shortage. The proposed academic health center aims to develop and retain healthcare workers within the community.
Multiple speakers testified about limited healthcare options in North Florida and the travel burden placed on patients seeking specialized care.
"I spent most of my childhood, about 10 years of it, traveling to Shands in Gainesville because there's specialized care I could not receive here in Tallahassee,” Joe Kalicki, a community member, said.
Tallahasse Memorial Hospital (Photo: Tallahassee Memorial Hospital)
Other speakers described similar circumstances, including an individual with epilepsy who routinely took multi-hour bus rides for adequate care, and a cancer patient required to make two-hour drives for scans and treatments.
"Everybody deserves better healthcare, and we are dedicated to doing that," said FSU President Rick McCullough.
But it was not all positive.
The audience was less concerned with how much revenue the hospital could make for the city, and had concerns about the financial terms and governance implications.
TMH has paid $1 annually in rent to the city since 2009—a largely ceremonial amount.
Under the proposed arrangement, FSU would acquire the hospital and its land, rebranding it as FSU Health. The university would then lease the land back to the hospital under a 40-year lease agreement.
Florida State University website page
Questions on the cost of the proposed lease were not discussed.
"This is not merely a collaboration, it is the transfer of the city's equity to a state-controlled entity under a 40-year lease back,” Lemonte Horne, community member, said.
Kalicki echoed concerns about conducting such a transfer without a more clearly defined structure and benefits for the city.
TMH currently operates under city control, and FSU functions as a state institution. The potential change in leadership raised questions about how state oversight might affect hospital policies.
"Will women's emergency health care and birth control medications be denied?” Howard Kessler asked. “Will TMH continue to treat trans and gay and woke people under Governor DeSantis? Will health care become more expensive?"
"This partnership is about the future of our city and the North Florida region,” FSU Vice President Clark said. “It's about making sure families can receive advanced care here at home, rather than having to go to Jacksonville, Gainesville, or beyond."
Amidst some public backlash, efforts to build the new hospital have been increasing.
According to news.fsu.edu, TMH and FSU have already approved plans for an Academic Health Partnership in 2021, continuing an idea first tabled in 2008.
“The 140,000-00000000-square-foot building, expected to open in 2026,” news.fsu.edu reports.
The meeting was the first of two, with the second happening today, Oct. 22.
OpGov.ai will post that meeting within 48 hours.
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