As the east end of Jeffersonville grows, so does the need for essential services.
Two hospitals in the region have taken notice. Floyd Memorial Hospital and Baptist Health — which likely will become the same entity later this year — have preliminary plans to locate facilities near River Ridge Commerce Center.
Floyd Memorial is working with a developer that has purchased land on Ind. 62 along River Ridge Parkway to construct a one-story, 12,300 square-foot medical facility. Floyd would likely lease the building designed to fit its specifications.
“We haven’t fully decided what’s going to go in there yet,” Floyd Memorial spokeswoman Angie Rose said, though the space will be home to physicians and ancillary hospital services.
Construction crews just broke ground at the site last week, she said.
Floyd Memorial services seven counties, many of which are home to clinics or other services
“By putting an additional facility out there, it’s just adding more convenience to those patients that we’re serving,” Rose said.
As River Ridge attracts more businesses, Rose said Floyd Memorial wants to help the rapidly growing number of employees.
“Sometimes it’s easy to have your primary care provider close to where you work,” she said.
Baptist Health purchased 15 acres on East 10th Street in January, but officials aren’t sure what they will do with the land yet.
“We actually have been looking at opportunities in that corridor for several years, and once the east-end bridge is completed, it’s in close proximity to Baptist Health Eastpoint, which is off the Gene Snyder [Freeway],” Baptist Health spokeswoman Julie Garrison said.
She said Baptist purchased the land from Kaden Companies, which owns 46 acres of property that it intends to develop commercially.
“We’re excited about that area,” Garrison said. “River Ridge is growing, especially with the bridge being completed. I think that has a lot of excitement around it.”
Baptist announced last week its plans to buy Floyd Memorial for $150 million. Both entities began looking for medical space in east Jeffersonville before acquisition negotiations began.
“[Baptist] is currently evaluating services [needed], and with this potential partnership with Floyd, anything that we would do, we’d work collaboratively and in close coordination with them to make sure that those are complementary,” Garrison said.
Rose also said Floyd’s medical center next to River Ridge will be something to discuss with Baptist.
“The trend really is toward more outpatient services than inpatient services in health care,” Garrison said.
Baptist and Floyd have just begun the acquisition process. If all goes as leaders hope, a transition would begin Oct. 1. Before then, Floyd Memorial Board of Trustees and Floyd County Council and Commissioners must approve a purchase agreement.
The council approved a nonbinding agreement to sell the hospital to Baptist Health for $150 million last week. The acquisition also guarantees $125 million in capital investments over the next five years.