FSU president, Board of Trustees chair say TMH ownership 'wasn't even on our radar'

Amid accusations of city officials "secretly meeting" with Florida State University about the possible sale of Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare , FSU Board of Trustees Chair Peter Collins says "we have nothing to do with" plans to take ownership of the hospital. 

"Up until about 10 days ago, this wasn't even on our radar screen," Collins said in an interview with the Tallahassee Democrat Wednesday. "The hospital we're building in Panama City and the partnership we have with TMH is what we were focusing on." 

FSU's Board of Trustees met virtually Wednesday morning ahead of a Florida Board of Governors approval that same day in favor of the university being issued up to $413.9 million in bonds to finance a new FSU Health hospital construction in Panama City Beach . 

The governors also met Wednesday and gathered in Florida A&M University's Grand Ballroom.

More: TMH calls for community action as mayor, city manager address 'secret meetings' backlash

But the approval of the major project comes as the hospital's future is the talk of the town: The city of Tallahassee released a bombshell agenda item last week sharing its intent to explore its ownership relationship with TMH and "the advantages" of a potential sale of the hospital , a move that "blindsided" hospital officials. 

That led hospital backers to accuse Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey and City Manager Reese Goad of meeting in secret with FSU President Richard McCullough, but the university leader told the Democrat FSU is simply looking to build on the relationship between TMH and the city. 

"The vision we have for FSU Health is to provide excellent and improved healthcare in this region and in Panama City Beach," McCullough told the Democrat Wednesday. "That's our goal, and we look forward to working together with TMH and the city with whatever they decide to do." 

Days after the city's agenda item became public, McCullough sent a letter declaring interest in seeing TMH become an Academic Medical Center, commonly referred to as a "teaching hospital," presumably under the FSU Health banner. 

Goad acknowledged to the Democrat that he and the mayor met with McCullough a week before the agenda item appeared and that McCullough expressed FSU interest in ownership of the hospital. But he said similar discussions have occurred periodically over many months and only TMH's request to change its bylaws with the city triggered the agenda item.

Collins dismissed accusations that FSU is launching a "hostile takeover" bid for the hospital.

"Frankly, I don't think any of us know at this point what the city really wants to do," Collins said. "Everybody has just taken off with some wild assumptions. We don't have any plans to take over the hospital. It's not our asset – it's the city's asset. If the city decides to go another route, then that's up to them." 

He added: "We have nothing to do with this – other than our partnership with TMH both on our academic health center that we're building here and the project in Panama City – and for anybody to suggest that we're driving this discussion or moving this forward, it's just not true."

'We have zero control and zero say'

With the controversy swirling and growing by the day, Florida Board of Governors Vice Chair Alan Levine took the opportunity Wednesday to address in part the tension between the city, TMH and FSU.

That came after a discussion about FSU's future Panama City hospital during a Facilities Committee meeting. He quoted TMH President and CEO Mark O'Bryant's response in an interview with Tallahassee Democrat.

When asked if FSU is essentially trying to emulate what the University of Florida has in many ways – regarding the UF Health Shands Hospital – through a possible ownership of TMH, O'Bryant said: "I'm not sure that's the model you want. They don't really focus as much on the local community over there because they have a different mission. Their mission is for more academic research. So if you think about the whole population, people should be concerned." 

"I take great offense to that comment," Levine said, regarding O'Bryant's response.

"As a member of this board, when somebody in a position like that makes an uneducated comment about the investments we make in our academic medical centers and to mischaracterize what their mission is in those communities, I do think something strong needs to be said to respond to that," he added.  

"FSU gets to decide who their partners are," he went on, "but I would strongly encourage their partner here in Tallahassee to rethink their position on that."

Related news: Q&A with Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare CEO Mark O'Bryant: 'We are very concerned'

Levine is also chief executive officer of Ballad Health , a health system that serves a region including Northeast Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, Eastern Kentucky and Western North Carolina.

Although Collins says owning TMH is not a plan of the university's, he acknowledges it's an interest – but only to a certain extent. 

"It's an interest for us in the sense that we have an academic medical center that we're building out there, and it's a partnership with the hospital, so our partner is of interest to us," Collins said. "We've been working on that partnership with TMH for both of these projects for three years, and it's worked well so far." 

FSU and TMH broke ground on the medical space near it's Panama City campus in January 2023 ahead of a groundbreaking on TMH's campus in Tallahassee later that year for a new academic health center.

Gaining ownership of TMH would possibly help the university reach its long-time goal of being recognized for membership in the Association of American Universities (AAU), but Collins said the relationship the university's academic health center will have with the hospital is what counts most.

"I don't think it matters to the university who administers or owns the hospital," Collins said. "It's the relationship that matters. That's how we're moving toward AAU as we do clinical research. We have great interest in what happens out there, but other than what we're building, we have zero control and zero say." 

"We want to give the potential patients in the area the best healthcare possible," he added. "That's our only mention – however that happens, whoever owns what, we just want to give them great healthcare." 

More on FSU's future Panama City hospital construction after approval

As FSU makes moves with Wednesday's approval for $413.9 million in bonds for the construction of a new hospital in Panama City Beach, the facility is part of a greater FSU Health project for a new medical campus in the area. 

"It's a big deal," McCullough told the Democrat. "This is the largest debt issuance that we've ever had at FSU. Some people have to drive about half an hour or so if they need healthcare in that region, so we're just really excited to play our part to help. Right now, we're really focused on community healthcare."

The university will "partner with an operator, anticipated to be TMH pending approval by the City of Tallahassee," to lease and operate the new state-of-the-art hospital in Panama City Beach, according to an FSU release. 

In addition, FSU has received approximately 16.5 acres of land donated by The St. Joe Company for the hospital, which is slated to be complete by the end of 2027 near FSU's Panama City campus with up to 180 beds, a 20-bed emergency center and other inpatient services including surgery, cardiology procedures and imaging. 

The expansion is also directly tied toward rapid population growth and a growing need for healthcare services, and part of the effort includes a new medical office building that FSU opened in July, which is situated near the future hospital's site. 

University trustee Jorge Gonzalez – who is also president, CEO & chairman of The St. Joe Company – said FSU Health is meeting a critical need for more health care options through the hospital initiative. "I know oftentimes the word transformational is overused, but I really believe this project has that type of potential," Gonzalez said.

Tarah Jean is a reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat. She can be reached at  tjean@tallahassee.com  and follow her on X:  @tarahjean_ .

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU officials speak on TMH ownership amid Panama City hospital plans