Florida Blue and its parent company, GuideWellMutual Holding Company, are working on three more Sanitas Medical Centers in Jacksonville after opening the first in January in the Regency Park shopping center.
Aleizha Batson, Florida Blue senior regional communications lead for North Florida, said July 10 that the next three are anticipated to open Jan. 1, 2025.
Those are in the Windy Hill, Duclay and Hyde Park neighborhoods, she said.
The city is reviewing a permit application for the Windy Hill center at 11160 Beach Blvd., Unit 128, in the St. Johns Square II shopping center at southwest Beach Boulevard and St. Johns Bluff Road.
Skyline Construction Inc. is the contractor for the estimated almost $1.8 million tenant build-out of 5,025 square feet of space. Plans indicate six exam rooms along with a lobby, dispensary, administration and physician offices and other space.
Gensler is the architect. Guidewell Sanitas I LLC is the business owner.
No locations are given for the Duclay or Hyde Park centers. Batson said July 11 those leases have not been signed.
Duclay is in the Blanding Boulevard and Interstate 295 area of Southwest Jacksonville.
Hyde Park is in the area of Normandy Boulevard and I-295 in West Jacksonville.
“Florida Blue’s mission is to help people and communities achieve better health. Central to our commitment to the Jacksonville community is ensuring that we increase access to affordable, high-quality, and patient-centered health care in the region,” Batson said in an email.
The medical care centers serve Florida Blue customers, original Medicare and self-paying patients ages 50 and older. The health centers serve as the primary care provider and serve walk-in patients, but do not have emergency room services.
In addition to Regency Park, “we are bringing additional Florida Blue | Sanitas Medical Centers and their innovative comprehensive care model to the area,” Batson said.
Batson said the Florida Blue Sanitas Medical Center at Beach Boulevard will have “dedicated care teams to provide Florida Blue members personalized and comprehensive primary care, walk-in care, pharmacy dispensing, diagnostics and testing, as well as educational programs for wellness, mental health and management of ongoing health concerns.”
She said virtual care also will be available and patients can schedule a visit with their care team from home, or wherever convenient, for management of chronic conditions, help with medications, coordination of care and social support. Patients can also access immediate care with 24/7 on-demand virtual support via phone, video or chat.
At Regency Park, hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. It opened at 9400 Atlantic Blvd., Suite 11, with a staff of 14 with a doctor, a nurse practitioner and a mental health counselor on duty.
Before an appointment, patients complete a form explaining their conditions and symptoms. The medical staff will evaluate the information to be prepared for the appointment.
“We really value that provider-patient relationship. Patients are going to get more time with the providers – up to 40-minute visits, “ said Alicia Zoya, GuideWell Health director of Clinical Services, in December at the Regency Park center before it opened for business.
In addition to examination rooms, the facility has an on-site lab, pharmacy, X-ray, electrocardiogram and ultrasound testing. There are no plans for MRI equipment.
Medical social services include Zumba, yoga and cooking and nutrition programs. Transportation can be arranged for those needing a ride for appointments.
Sanitas is headquartered in Bogota, Colombia, in South America.
Its website lists 67 offices in the United States in Florida, New Jersey and Tennessee.
The 56 in Florida comprise 15 each in Miami and Orlando, nine in Broward, six each in Palm Beach and Tampa, four in Tallahassee and one in Jacksonville.
The construction build-out cost for the 8,752-square-foot Regency Park Sanitas was $3 million. The contractor was OliverSperry Renovation & Construction Inc. of Tallahassee.
The Sanitas website says Colsanitas started in 1980 in Colombia as an insurance company and in the 1990s developed an infrastructure of hospitals, medical centers, lab, dental and vision centers.
It began expanding in 1994 that led to operations in Venezuela, Peru, Brazil and Mexico. In 2014, it expanded into the U.S. through an alliance with GuideWell, which includes Florida Blue (Florida’s Blue Cross and Blue Shield plan).
In its first year, it opened three medical centers serving Miami-Dade County under the Sanitas brand to offer primary care, select specialty care, urgent care, laboratory and diagnostic services.
By 2017, it grew to 11 locations, including nine in Florida in partnership with GuideWell.