LUTZ — Orlando Health opened a freestanding emergency room on State Road 54 on Sept. 15, the latest step in the health system’s rapid expansion into Pasco County.
The 10,865-square-foot Orlando Health Emergency Room Lutz, at 20060 State Road 54 near Henley Road, is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and treats adults and children. It has 10 exam rooms, a results waiting area, on-site imaging and laboratory services, and an ambulance bay. Its features include:
• A dedicated resuscitation room equipped to treat patients of all ages
• Cardiac and respiratory monitoring spaces
• Adult and pediatric emergency care
Joe Delatorre, CEO of Florida Medical Clinic Orlando Health, said in a news release that the ER was built in response to the area’s continued population growth and demand for quality health care close to home.
“We are proud to expand our ability to serve local families with the expertise, compassion and world-class care that Orlando Health is known for,” Delatorre said.
Orlando Health, a private, not-for-profit health system with $9.6 billion in assets, serves the Southeast and Puerto Rico.
The Lutz ER opened less than two months after the system opened its five-story, 102-bed Orlando Health Wiregrass Ranch Hospital in Wesley Chapel. Orlando Health plans to grow that hospital to 300 beds and to add two buildings to the $750 million, 47-acre campus, along with an off-site facility, by 2028.
Construction is already underway on the two campus buildings, both medical office buildings: one 90,000 square feet, the other housing a dedicated women’s center. The system also plans to break ground on a 50,000-square-foot medical office building on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard.
The expansion mirrors a broader push by health systems, including AdventHealth, HCA and BayCare, to keep pace with Pasco County’s residential growth. The county has added about 500,000 residents since 1970 and is projected to add more than 200,000 by 2045.
“At the end of the day, it’s really about the staff that make our hospitals the best — and I really mean that,” Delatorre told the Beacon in July. “It helps that you have one of the nicest hospitals I have ever seen, but our employees, it’s clear they want to work for Orlando Health and take great care of patients.”