Largest Florida Hospitals by Beds in Service

Welcome to the Sunshine State! Ah, sunny Florida! How I wish I were there right now.

Florida is the 3rd most populated state with 21 million inhabitants. And those residents have to go somewhere when they are sick. Let’s see who the 20 largest hospitals in Florida are using beds in service as our metric.

Holy cow! Look at the size of AdventHealth Orlando! That’s a massive hospital, or at least hospital system. There are 8 hospitals that operate under one license: AH Altamonte, AH Apopka, AH Celebration Health, AH East Orlando, AH Kissimmee, Winter Park Memorial, AH Orlando, and Florida Children’s Hospital. So, it’s not just one hospital building with 2,000 beds. It’s multiple hospitals spread out over 30 miles (has to be within 30 miles to be a campus). Man, this has to be one extremely complicated Medicare cost report. I pity the fool that has that job. Just kidding. Maybe. ¹

Orlando Health is the second largest hospital and appears to be multi-campus as well. It opened in 1918 as Orange General Hospital. In 1952, it became one of the first approved teaching hospitals in Florida. The hospital system includes Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center, Orlando Health Dr. P. Phillips Hospital, Orlando Health South Lake Hospital, Orlando Health South Seminole Hospital, Orlando Health – Health Central Hospital, Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, and Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies. ²

The third spot goes to Jackson Memorial in Miami. They are the primary teaching hospital for the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine. They are the 10th busiest transplant center in the nation and the only center in Florida to perform every kind of organ transplant. ³

St Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa is in the fourth spot. St. Joseph’s Hospital includes St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital, St. Joseph’s Women’s Hospital, St. Joseph’s Hospital-North and St. Joseph’s Hospital-South. So, it’s a multi-campus hospital as well. The hospital started in 1934 by the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany with 40 beds. Now, the hospital has more than 1,000 beds. ⁴

Coming in fifth is Tampa General Hospital with 920 beds. Tampa General is the primary teaching hospital for USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. They are a level I trauma center with a fleet of five helicopters. They are also one of the leading organ transplant centers in the country, performing more than 9,000 adult solid organ transplants. They completed the first successful heart transplant in Florida in 1985. ⁵

I do try to look up interesting facts on these hospitals to share. I’ll say that some hospitals have amazing information about their history. Others are lacking. So, if you want to know why some of the largest hospitals have basically no information on them, that’s why. Marketing and website peeps should work on that…..in their spare time. Ha.

Musing Revelations

These are massive hospital systems. Georgia’s largest hospital is Grady Memorial and they only have 646 beds. Of course, they don’t have campuses either. Still, the size pales in comparison to the hospitals I’ve looked at in Georgia and South Carolina.

I’ve also determined that whomever is completing the Medicare cost reports for these facilities are rock stars. Having to compile eight General Ledgers for AdventHealth Orlando into a single cost report would be quite the undertaking. Craziness!