HCA Florida Oak Hill Hospital celebrates 40 years serving the community

Hernando County, FL — Forty years ago today, HCA Florida Oak Hill Hospital opened its doors to a community that embraced the hospital’s commitment to providing excellent clinical care, convenience and kindness to its patients.

Since its inception, Oak Hill Hospital has been a cornerstone of Hernando County and the community’s hospital of choice. 

Oak Hill Hospital was opened to provide local access to advanced health care, eliminating the need to commute an hour or more for critical medical treatment.  The hospital opened its doors on June 6, 1984 as a 96-bed, three-story facility and expanded five years later with the construction of a fourth floor and enlarged emergency department that opened in late 1989. 

By 1990, the hospital had grown to 150 beds and plans were underway to add a fifth floor as well as ambulatory surgery and endoscopy centers to the hospital campus. 

By 2000, the hospital opened its outpatient surgery, endoscopy and inpatient and outpatient cardiac catherization centers; began educating future doctors and allied health care professionals through its graduate medical education (GME) program; became accredited by the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer (CoC) for its cancer program and registry; opened a newly constructed fifth floor with 54 beds for a total of 204 beds and began delivering babies on the new sixth floor with seven labor, delivery, recovery and post-partum private rooms.

Since then, Oak Hill Hospital has continued to add accreditations and programs to serve its patients. Key initiatives include Primary Stroke Center designation, Chest Pain Center accreditation, cancer accreditations, open heart surgery, heart valve and heart failure programs, joint and knee replacement program, Women’s Imaging Center with 3D mammography, the addition and expansion of the North Tower, robot-assisted surgery capabilities, expansion of the new maternity suites, addition of a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), outpatient wound care, outpatient cardiac rehabilitation – and more!

Today, Oak Hill Hospital continues to honor its commitment to its growing community. The hospital has grown to 350 licensed beds, 1800 employees, more than 850 physicians, 150 medical residents, as well as nationally recognized specialty accreditations and programs.  In 2023, Oak Hill Hospital treated nearly 107,000 patients with 64,254 emergency room visits and delivered 1,436 babies. 

“Over the past 40 years, Oak Hill Hospital has stayed true to its mission to provide excellent care in our community,” said Ken Wicker, CEO. “While the hospital has grown to more than three times its original capacity, our commitment to care and the health and wellbeing of our community has not wavered. This is reflected in our excellent patient outcomes as well as demonstrated through third-party quality recognitions that we’ve earned from The Joint Commission, Healthgrades and the American Heart Association for the advanced services we’ve offered to meet the healthcare needs of our patients.” 

 Oak Hill Hospital offers Hernando County’s only heart surgery program and is the only Level III NICU in the region, serving families and caring for the tiniest and sickest babies in Hernando, Citrus and Pasco counties. 

The hospital is a Primary Stroke Center; COC accredited Integrated Cancer Program; meets Get With the Guidelines – Stroke Gold Plus with Target, Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll by the American Heart Association and holds Blue Distinction Center status for knees, hip and spine care.

In 2024 alone, Oak Hill Hospital has been recognized with the following:

• Healthgrades 250 America’s Best Hospitals – top 5% in the nation
• Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence Award – top 5% in the nation
• Healthgrades 28 clinical achievements, including one of American’s 100 Best Hospitals in five Best Specialty Areas 
  • Prostate surgery for seven consecutive years
  • Orthopedic surgery for three consecutive years 
  • Joint replacement surgery two years in a row
  • Spine surgery
  • Critical Care

“When national accrediting organizations like The Joint Commission, American Heart Association and Healthgrades recognize your hospital for its quality outcomes, we know we are delivering on our promises to our patients,” said Chief Medical Officer David P. Slovut, MD. “And as a teaching hospital where we train future doctors, student nurses, radiology technicians and laboratory professionals, we are preparing the next generation of care providers to achieve these high standards of care.”

Dedicated to advancing medical education, Oak Hill trains 140 medical residents and fellows a year, and is part of HCA Florida Healthcare, the largest sponsor of graduate medical education in the state. Additionally, Oak Hill Hospital continues to develop and grow its local talent in the nursing field through partnerships with multiple nursing programs and on-site clinical training.

Annually, Oak Hill Hospital provides more than $15.7 million in uncompensated care, pays $26.6 million in taxes and invests nearly $171.3 million in its colleagues through salaries, wages and benefits. Additionally, the hospital further supports the community by sponsoring more than a dozen local nonprofit organizations and working with 84 companies based in Hernando County including schools, Pasco Hernando State College, the United Way and the March of Dimes.

“Being the largest private employer and largest hospital in Hernando County offers numerous opportunities to partner with many nonprofit organizations and support many valuable social service organizations,” concluded Wicker. “Beyond providing a warm atmosphere for our employees to work and excellent care for our patients, we welcome the chance to give back to the community that has supported us the past 40 years.”