Senate vote dissolves Citrus County Hospital Board

The Citrus County Hospital Board is coming to an end after nearly 80 years.

The Senate unanimously passed HB 4043, which eliminates the hospital Board and turns all its assets over to the Citrus County Board of County Commissioners.

“The bill passed both chambers and will be sent to the Governor. With his approval, the hospital Board will be dissolved,” Sen. Ralph Massullo said.

Inverness Rep. JJ Grow’s bill sunsets a hospital Board that created Citrus Memorial Hospital in the 1950s, only to have it leased to Hospital Corporation of America six decades later. The House approved the bill unanimously in February.

The Hospital Board was created by legislative act to provide health care services in Citrus County. The Governor appointed its members, and the Board had taxing authority.

It existed in relative anonymity for years. In 1987, its members created a separate nonprofit foundation Board to oversee hospital operations.

Those two boards eventually splintered when the foundation amended its bylaws in 2006 to increase its size, effectively placing hospital Board members in the minority.

That led to years of debate between the two boards over the hospital’s financial stability. It ended in 2013 when the boards agreed on a 50-year, $131 million lease with HCA. The hospital was renamed HCA Florida Citrus Hospital in 2022.

As an extension of that lease, lawmakers created the Citrus County Community Charitable Foundation, whose members represent a cross-section of Citrus County, including two elected members. It disburses interest payments from lease proceeds to meet the medical needs of Citrus County citizens.

HB 4043 requires the CCHB to adopt a dissolution plan by Sept. 30, including distributions to the charitable foundation.

Officials say the Hospital Board is no longer needed.

Attorney William Grant, who has represented the CCHB for two decades, said a smooth transition will take several months.

“We want to be able to sunset in a way that’s consistent with the mission and the good work that all of you have done,” Grant said in October.

Details of the asset transfer are still to be worked out.