Lakeland Officials Say Orlando Health Watson Clinic Hospital Partnership Signals Promising Future
by PAUL CATALA
It’s a collaboration bringing together one of Central Florida’s most renowned and respected hospitals and top physician-led practices to offer specialized care.
Watson Clinic, which opened as Watson Health in 1941, is a multispecialty community clinic with comprehensive primary and specialty care. Orlando Health, which began as Orange General Hospital in 1918, is a nonprofit healthcare system known for its trauma care, community hospitals, and research.
When the new hospital in Lakeland opens next year, it will be called the Orlando Health Watson Clinic Lakeland Highlands Hospital.
According to Orlando Health, the opening of the hospital is scheduled for June 2026. The seven-story hospital will be on Lakeland Highlands Road, south of the Polk Parkway.
“By combining our respective strengths, we are able to provide a level of care and service that expands both our capabilities while enhancing patient care,” says Carlos Carrasco, senior vice president, Orlando Health Midwest Region. “We’re excited about…the impact it will have on patient care across Florida’s heartland.”
Orlando Health officials say the new medical-care affiliation will affect areas throughout the new facility. Throughout the design and building process, Orlando Health and Watson Clinic’s staff have been working on the facility’s design, getting current medical technologies and working on the comprehensive services that will be available.
Once open, the Orlando Health Watson Clinic Lakeland Highlands Hospital will have more than 300 inpatient beds, 69 emergency and observation beds, 11 working operating rooms, four cardiac and interventional suites and 18 beds in an intensive care unit that will serve 36 patients at full buildout.
Additionally, according to Orlando Health, obstetric services will have eight labor and delivery rooms, two special c-section operating rooms and more than 25 post-partum rooms. A 12-bed neonatal intensive care unit will debut shortly after the hospital opens.
Lakeland City Manager Shawn Sherrouse says the clinic’s partnership with Orlando Health will help expand healthcare and economic benefits and “is a great indicator of Lakeland’s future in high-quality and advanced healthcare services.”
“This collaboration is a major component of the more than $2 billion planned healthcare developments in the Lakeland community and the more than 5,500 high-wage jobs that will result from those developments,” he says. “We are grateful for Watson Clinic, and we are thrilled to have Orlando Health joining our Lakeland community.”
Watson Clinic Chief Executive Officer Jason Hirsbrunner says the collaboration will provide patients with expanded access to doctors and “care they trust most, and it will ensure exceptional healthcare services in our community for generations to come.”
“A hospital here in our community means choice. It means choice to Polk County residents, it means choice to Watson Clinic patients, and it means choice to Watson Clinic providers.”
According to Carrasco, Watson’s partnership is one of the largest hospital capital investments Orlando Health has ever made.
Lakeland Mayor Bill Mutz says the medical partnership “marks a pivotal advancement in expanding healthcare access and enhancing care quality in the region.”
“A new hospital will help ease the strain on existing providers, and improve access to emergency care, all while offering a wider range of services to meet diverse healthcare needs,” he says. “The addition of a new hospital in Lakeland will not only benefit local residents but also create new jobs, boost the local economy, and provide essential resources to address the area’s future healthcare requirements.”