Santa Rosa Medical Center or SRMC is a 129-bed general hospital located in Milton, Florida. 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.
The hospital’s mission statement is “To always focus on providing quality care and superior service to our community because it deserves nothing less.”[1] SRMC, along with its affiliated health services facilities and clinics, is one of the largest employers in Santa Rosa County, Florida.[2][3] As of 4th quarter 2010, the hospital employed nearly 400 staff, over 130 physicians, and approximately 100 volunteers.[3]
A group of Santa Rosa County citizens formed a County Hospital Board in 1951 and this group filed a Certificate of Organization setting the stage for what would eventually become the Santa Rosa Medical Center.[4] The initial hospital, known as Santa Rosa Hospital, was chartered as a non-profit hospital and would be operated and managed by the county.[4] Construction for the original facility began in mid-1951 and on December 2, 1952 the first patients were admitted.[4] This original facility was located on Stewart Street in Milton, Florida.[4] Santa Rosa Hospital was expanded in 1963 and again in 1966.[4] According to the hospital's website, local growth and population needs were exceeding the capabilities of the 100-bed facility by 1970.[4] The Santa Rosa Hospital Board of Directors and the Santa Rosa County Commissioners began the drafting proposals for constructing a new hospital on a new site.[4]
The proposed 4-floor facility included over 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2) of diagnostic and treatment space.[4] At the time, Santa Rosa Hospital Board Chairman Melson stated:
"The addition of qualified physicians generated a rapid increase in the need for health care facilities. In addition, older facilities were becoming outmoded because of rapid technological developments. This step to create a new hospital building and its equipment was both timely and needed."[4]
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.[4] In 1985, the county leased the management of Santa Rosa Hospital to the for-profit corporation, Hospital Corporation of America, Inc. and the name was changed to the Santa Rosa Medical Center.[4] 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.[4]
Since taking over in 2002, HMA has undertaken capital improvement projects investing technology, renovations, and construction.[4] According to the hospital website, the new construction and renovation at SRMC was needed “in anticipation of the continued rapid growth in Santa Rosa County and to ensure continued provisions of high quality, state-of-the-art, primary and specialty medical services.”[4]
A September 12, 2009 Pensacola News Journal article stated that Chief Executive Officer Philip Wright was seeking to upgrade the building and recruit new physicians, especially specialists such as cardiologists and pulmonologists.[5]