TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida State University and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare have finalized core agreements that set a long-term framework for FSU Health, an integrated academic health system aimed at improving health and expanding access to advanced care and research across North Florida and beyond.
The agreements include lease and operating agreements and other definitive legal documents, including an academic and clinical framework supporting the partnership at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital and a future FSU Health hospital in Panama City Beach.
“Today marks a defining step forward in our shared vision to build an academic health system that will serve our community and our state for generations to come,” FSU President Richard McCullough said. “Through FSU Health, with Tallahassee Memorial Hospital as its clinical anchor, Florida State University is bringing together the people, expertise and resources needed to improve lives, expand access to advanced care and create new opportunities for medical education and research across North Florida and beyond.”
Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Inc. will serve as a cornerstone of FSU Health, bringing what the organizations described as expertise in community-based care, an extensive network of physicians and advanced practice providers, and specialty and advanced-care services.
“For nearly 80 years, TMH has grown alongside this community, always looking for new ways to bring better care closer to home,” said Mark O’Bryant, chief executive officer of Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare. “Our work with FSU, including the academic medical center strategy we developed together in 2021, has created an opportunity to build on that legacy in ways we could not achieve alone. Our patients, physicians, advanced practice providers and colleagues can expect the same commitment to exceptional, compassionate care, strengthened by new opportunities to advance medicine, educate future healthcare professionals and bring more specialized care and innovation closer to home.”
Under the agreements, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Inc. will continue managing day-to-day operations under the FSU Health brand at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, the future Panama City Beach hospital, TMH’s other clinical care locations and its employed physician network, TMH Physician Partners. Patients will continue receiving care from their established physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses and team members, while also gaining access to additional resources tied to Florida State University.
The agreements build on an academic health center strategic alignment plan that started in 2021, as well as the transfer of city-owned hospital assets to FSU earlier this year. They establish a long-term governance, operational and academic framework for the continued growth of FSU Health across North Florida and the Panhandle.
The agreements also preserve TMH’s existing charity care policy at both hospitals and establish a new governance structure that gives FSU the ability to nominate candidates for boards in Tallahassee and Panama City Beach.
FSU Health is described as the region’s only academic health system, with plans to connect patients with physicians, advanced treatments, clinical research and specialized services while training future health care professionals. Future plans for FSU Health in Tallahassee include developing new graduate medical education programs in high-demand specialties such as trauma surgery, minimally invasive and bariatric surgery, and pulmonary and critical care medicine.