Hospital sinks $37 million into new nursing home that will operate like a hotel

Orlando Health saw an opportunity to build its skilled nursing base after looking closely at its aging post-acute facility in Winter Garden, FL.

By transferring the license for 60 skilled beds to its campus in Ocoee, a consultant said the hospital hopes to diversify its patient mix with a hotel-like set-up that could attract Baby Boomers and other potential residents.

The Orlando Sentinel reported Tuesday that the 110-bed, four-story Orlando Health Center for Rehabilitation is set to begin accepting patients in July. With a price tag of $37 million, the center will include 60 beds for short-term rehab residents whose stays will likely be supported by Medicare dollars or private payers. Ten beds are set aside for Cornerstone Hospice, which runs an in-patient hospice unit at Orlando Health’s downtown campus.

The final 40 beds on the first floor are dedicated to Alzheimer’s and dementia patients.

Meanwhile, says Sharon Girvin, a consultant who provided licensing and certificate-of-need support on the project, Orlando Health will be able to modernize its 1960s-era Winter Garden SNF.

“That building was basically reaching the end of its useful life,” said Girvin, namesake of the Girvin Group and a member of the Florida Health Care Association. “They’ve relocated a portion of their beds to provide a better continuum of care.”

And they’ll be doing it in style.

The Sentinel outlined the kind of luxurious touches — hospital-like lighting, luggage carts in the lobby, a therapeutic garden — that will be included in the 91,000-square-foot Health Central Rehabilitation Center in Ocoee.

“Everybody says, ‘Well, we’re going to create a medical facility and we’re going to make it hospitality-like,’ and we said, “No, no, no, no, no!” because we’ve seen that and it’s not done well,” project designer Elena Pathak told the newspaper. “We said we’re going to create a hotel that offers exceptional medical care. And there’s a huge difference.”

Health Central Hospital has launched a larger $100 million expansion project in response to a local population boom.