- published: 15 Apr 2015
- views: 1895
Baptist Health, based in Jacksonville, Florida, is a network of five hospitals, affiliated with 34 primary care offices located throughout Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia. All Baptist Hospitals have the MAGNET designation, the highest honor a health care organization can receive for excellence in patient care. This system is not affiliated with the Baptist Health System in Arkansas.
For more than 50 years, Baptist Health has provided residents of Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia with care. The original Baptist Memorial Hospital in downtown Jacksonville was opened in the 1940s, and is the flagship hospital for Baptist Health.
During the 1990s, for-profit health maintenance organizations such as Columbia/HCA captured a large share from non-profit hospitals. Baptist Health merged with rival St. Vincent's HealthCare in 1995 to become the dominant healthcare provider in northeast Florida and control rising costs. Baptist/St. Vincents Health System had a 40% market share and had cut operating costs by $100 million in three years. However, the marriage didn't last, and both groups went their separate ways in 2000.