New specialty clinics open at Tallahassee Memorial Medical Office

BAY COUNTY, Fla. ( WMBB ) – The Tallahassee Memorial Medical Office building located in Panama City Beach is adding three new departments; Cardiology, Pulmonary-Critical Care & Sleep, and Coastal Tides Surgical Center.

The plaza previously opened it's first clinics, primary and urgent care, back in July.

Tallahassee Memorial Health Care and the St. Joe Company officials celebrated the addition of medical services to the TMH-FSU medical campus. Medical officials say the additions will provide people with more choices for high-demand specialties.

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"We have gotten great reviews, they getting great care, real-time attention, and immediate access. Those are key things when you talk to people in the community...having to wait long periods of time for primary medicine, having to leave the area, we help put a dent into that, obviously, and we've gotten great feedback from our physicians and our providers that work here," TMH Vice President Andrew Starr said.

Doctors say having specialty clinics in the same building as their primary care office helps provide more unique and team-based care for patients.

"I tend to spend a fair amount of time with my patients, and I work with my staff in terms of developing a team-approach so in my MA when my nurse with my front desk people are working with the patient, they should feel welcome and comfortable for from start to finish," Cardiologist Maria Lahti M.D. said.

The new offices created about 50 new jobs and will add to the full-service medical space they are hoping to create.

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"So we really look to this place as a destination, a one-stop shop where patients, doctors, our staff can all come to work and take great care real-time and right here," Starr said.

The company is set to break ground on a hospital in January of 2025 and it will be built across the plaza from the medical office building. The hospital will have 180 beds, an emergency center, and several other services like imaging. They hope to complete construction by the fall of 2027.

Officials say eventually they want to add another 3 buildings to the plaza and expand the hospital to 600 beds.