Santa Rosa Medical Center

Santa Rosa Medical Center
Community Health Systems
Geography
Location	Milton, Florida, United States
Organization
Care system	Community Health Systems
Services
Beds	129
Links
Website	www.srmcfl.com
Lists	Hospitals in Florida

Santa Rosa Medical Center or SRMC is an American 129-bed general hospital located in the small Florida city of Milton. SRMC is the primary provider of hospital-based healthcare services and emergency medicine in Santa Rosa County, Florida. The main hospital campus is located at 6002 Berryhill Road, Milton, FL 32570. The facility is leased and managed by Health Management Associates, Inc., (NYSE:HMA) a large publicly traded healthcare management firm headquartered in Naples, Florida.

SRMC, along with its affiliated health services facilities and clinics, is one of the largest employers in Santa Rosa County, Florida. As of 4th quarter 2010, the hospital employed nearly 400 staff, over 130 physicians, and approximately 100 volunteers.

History

A group of Santa Rosa County citizens formed a County Hospital Board in 1951 which filed a Certificate of Organization for what would eventually become the Santa Rosa Medical Center. The initial hospital, known as Santa Rosa Hospital, was chartered as a non-profit hospital , to be operated and managed by the county. Construction y began in mid-1951 and on December 2, 1952 the first patients were admitted. The hospital was located on Stewart Street in Milton. It was expanded in 1963 and again in 1966. According to the hospital's website, local growth and population needs were exceeding the capabilities of the 100-bed facility by 1970. The Santa Rosa Hospital Board of Directors and the Santa Rosa County Commissioners began drafting proposals for a new hospital on a new site.

The proposed 4-floor facility included over 100,000 square feet (9,300 m²) of diagnostic and treatment space. Funding was acquired and construction began at the hospital's current Berryhill Road location in Milton, Florida. The new $4.5 million, 153-bed county-owned facility opened in December 1972 with approximately 300 employees. In 1985, the county leased the management of the hospital to the for-profit corporation, Hospital Corporation of America, Inc. and the name was changed to the Santa Rosa Medical Center. Since then, the several firms have leased and managed the facility. Most recently, Health Management Associates, Inc. acquired the facility from Clarent Hospital Corporation on January 1, 2002.

Since taking over in 2002, HMA has undertaken capital improvement projects in technology, renovations, and construction. A September 12, 2009 Pensacola News Journal article stated that Chief Executive Officer Phillip Wright was seeking to upgrade the building and recruit new physicians, especially specialists such as cardiologists and pulmonologists.