ORMC, Poinciana hospitals officially part of HCA Florida with name change

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  • In the midst of the hospital’s expansion, Kissimmee Mayor Olga Gonzalez presents a proclamation to HCA Florida Osceola CEO David Shimp, calling “HCA Florida Health Care Day.” PHOTO/KEN JACKSON
    In the midst of the hospital’s expansion, Kissimmee Mayor Olga Gonzalez presents a proclamation to HCA Florida Osceola CEO David Shimp, calling “HCA Florida Health Care Day.” PHOTO/KEN JACKSON
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For the first t ime, more than 450 HCA Florida Healthcare affiliated sites of care across Florida, including five in Central Florida, became united under a shared brand last week.

Of those five, two are in Osceola County: the facilities now called HCA Florida Osceola Hospital and HCA Florida Poinciana Hospital. Longtime area residents have known them as Osceola Regional Medical Center and Poinciana Medical Center.

The Kissimmee location at Oak Street and Central Avenue, which is in the midst of a $27 million expansion, held an unveiling Thursday, which included raising the HCA Florida

Osceola flag — with its new diamond logo — and receiving a proclamation from the city of Kissimmee declaring March 3 “HCA Florida Health Care Day.”

Even David Shimp, the CEO of the Kissimmee location, said people will known exactly where “Osceola Regional” is when they bring up the name of the hospital that’s been around since 1933, with only 15 beds. He’s only been at the helm for a few months, so he doesn’t have an old name ingrained in his brain.

“I came in knowing the name would change, so I’ve just been calling it, ‘Osceola,’” Shimp said. “But our patients are at the center of it all, and while names and logos may have changed over the years, our mission will never change, that above all else, we ‘re committed to the care and improvement of human life.”

Representatives from Osceola County, The Kissimmee/Osceola County and St. Cloud Chambers of Commerce, the Kissimmee Fire Department, and the Kissimmee City Commission, who issued the proclamation, were in attendance.

HCA Florida Poinciana Hospital first opened its doors in 2013 and has seen expansions in the years since.

HCA will offer the power of people — many of them, in a network. HCA Florida Healthcare connects approximately 11,000 staff physicians,

77,000 colleagues, 49 hospitals and more than 450 physician practices, freestanding emergency rooms and urgent care centers, creating the state’s largest network.

Dr. Ross Taylor, HCA Florida Osceola Chief Medical Officer, spoke about how being part of the state’s largest network creates “a connected and collaborative health care experience for patients and their families.”

“I think back to the start of the pandemic, how we were treating a condition for which there was no playbook,” he said. “Our physicians were on the phone together on conference calls every day discussing our best practices.”