TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Florida State University officially owns Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, according to a university press release.
FSU and the City of Tallahassee completed the legal transfer of city-owned hospital assets on Friday.
This puts the university and the hospital one step closer toward creating an academic health center.
The official transfer comes after months of votes, public pushback and what some called an “automatic transfer” deadline.
That transfer deadline passed on April 1, with no lease between the hospital and the university. Friday evening’s press release does not indicate a new lease has been signed.
The City of Tallahassee Commission approved the transfer after a 3-2 vote in March and the Florida Board of Governors gave its seal of approval later that same month.
“This milestone reflects years of partnership and a shared vision for the future of health care in our region,” said FSU President Richard McCullough. “This is a major step forward for FSU Health and for expanding clinical care, research and medical education in North Florida.”
TMH will continue to run the hospital, including patient care, employees and daily operations, according to the press release. The partnership makes the hospital “the clinical anchor” of FSU Health and “builds on years of collaboration between the two institutions,” the press release said.
One marker of that collaboration is the FSU Health Research Center on TMH’s campus which is expected to open later this year.
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While FSU Health is now advancing, it’s unclear if an FSU Health Board will be created. In a proposed lease, TMH would have retained nine seats on the board while FSU would retain eight. It does not specify whether Tallahassee State College or FAMU would actually receive a seat.
That lease wasn’t signed before April 1, meaning the assets were transferred without an agreement between FSU and TMH.
Some worried about what this lack of agreement could mean for the future, like City Commissioner Jack Porter.
“If FSU and TMH do not reach an agreement, we don’t have an academic medical center,” Porter said in a previous interview with WCTV. “And so we risk having transferred the asset without the guarantee that there is an academic medical center to show for it.”
Under the terms of the deal, FSU will pay the City of Tallahassee $109 million over thirty years as the sale price for the hospital. The university also agreed to $250 million for facilities and research.
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