AdventHealth North Pinellas

Tarpon Springs Hospital Foundation, Inc. (doing business as AdventHealth North Pinellas) is a non-profit hospital campus in Tarpon Springs, Florida, United States. It became part of the AdventHealth hospital network following a merger with University Community Health in September 2010. The medical facility is a tertiary and primary stroke center that has multiple specialties. In the 1990s, there was a feud over the hospital between Tarpon Springs and the Tarpon Springs Hospital Foundation. Before merging the hospital had been in debt and owed over $31 million, due to this Standard & Poor's gave it a "junk bond level". AdventHealth North Pinellas has been evacuated four times due to hurricanes since 2017.

In 1927, Tarpon Springs had Tarpon Springs Memorial Hospital built on land owned by the city for $25,000 in bonds. It had 12 beds and was two stories tall. In the 1930s, the hospital made up 10 percent of the city budget. In 1939, Tarpon Springs was close to bankruptcy and the city commission government took a vote to close Tarpon Springs Memorial Hospital. A few days later a married couple convinced the city commission government to lease the hospital to them. After it expired other residents kept the hospital open. In 1946, the Tarpon Springs Hospital Association was formed by the city manager and physicians. Tarpon Springs canceled the lease of the association after physicians failed to keep the hospital open. In 1947, the hospital changed its name from Tarpon Springs Memorial Hospital to Tarpon Springs General Hospital. The same year the association renamed itself the Tarpon Springs Hospital Foundation. The by-laws of the foundation were written by the city. The members of the foundation were leaders of local civic, fraternity and religious organizations. The foundation also included Tarpon Springs leaders, two former city commissioners and one former city manager who were part of the foundations board of directors. Before the foundation leased the hospital for a second time, the city commission government tried to save it by signing an emergency lease with a local resident. Beginning in 1947, the foundation started paying a 5-year lease for $1 with Tarpon Springs, while the city maintained the hospital and paid its utility bills worth a total of $3,000 to $12,000 a year. In the 1950s, the foundation created a bank account for hospital revenues and took over the management of the hospital from Tarpon Springs. The city purchased for Tarpon Springs General Hospital typewriters, mattresses and cardiac monitors. And also continued to give the hospital money for its budget.

In 1960, the foundation took plans to the city commission government for a new 50-bed hospital (later it was increased to 67-beds). It supported the plan to build a new hospital, some residents were angry about the city spending more money on the hospital, yet they supported in a referendum to issue $390,000 in bonds for the project in December 1963. In 1965, the foundation hired the hospital's first administrator to make it self-sustaining. In 1966, a new hospital was built on the site of the old one for $1,249,000. A federal grant contributed $850,000 towards the construction of the new hospital. In 1968, the foundation agreed to pay the hospital's water and sewer bills, it also asked Tarpon Springs to put in a lawn sprinkling system for $1,750. In 1972, construction workers expanded the hospital to 111 beds at a cost of $775,000. The expansion was paid for with a federal grant and a loan of $400,000 from a local bank to Tarpon Springs. In 1981, the city created the Tarpon Springs Health Facilities Authority to issue bonds to the hospital and to lease it to the Tarpon Springs Hospital Foundation. In 1982, the Health Facilities Authority issued bonds worth $

Hospital data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).