Leaders at Baptist Medical Center in Jacksonville are birthing a new project — an expanded labor and delivery services area to the tune of $25.8 million.
The expansion includes new labor and delivery rooms, three operating suites, a four-bed OB triage/emergency room, and an antepartum room for high-risk mothers who need continuous monitoring.
Baptist Medical Center is Baptist Health’s flagship hospital and the only Level IV Regional Perinatal Health Care Center in the area. Perinatal centers specialize in assisting high-risk pregnancies.
Wolfson Childrens Hospital, which is on the same campus as Baptist Medical Center, has a Level IV NICU. These are designed to provide the highest level of advanced care for newborns who require it.
With those two capabilities and the new expansion, Baptist Medical Center becomes a hub for regional OB care, says Michael Mayo, CEO of Baptist Health.
The expansion ties in with a shortage of OB physicians around the U.S. and in Florida, coupled with an increasing number of women of childbearing age covered through Medicaid.
“There are a limited number of places that they can go. Serving that segment of our population was the motivator,” Mayo explains.
Baptist Medical Center delivers about 2,000 babies a year but anticipates that number to reach 3,000 in 2026 — yet another reason for the additional OB space, Mayo adds.
Expanded OB facilities also can help address high-risk pregnancies, including higher-than-normal maternal and infant mortality rates in the Jacksonville area, Mayo adds. High-risk pregnancies in Northeast Florida are expected to increase by 14.5% over the next decade.
With fetal anomalies, multiple births, a rising maternal age and the use of in vitro fertilization, there’s no shortage of health issues that the expanded OB area can address, says Nicole Thomas, president of Baptist Medical Center.
Part of the purpose of expanded OB services also will be to link new mothers and their babies to better community resources to improve their overall health, Thomas says.
Baptist Medical Center is receiving $4.5 million in state funding to support its expansion. Baptist leaders also are working with Dr. Sunil Joshi, chief health officer for the city of Jacksonville, to focus on better prenatal care, Mayo says.
The OB expansion is taking place in three phases, with two phases already completed and the third phase slated to be complete in late 2026.
The four-room OB emergency department is now open, along with the addition of the new labor and delivery rooms — doubling the capacity from 12 to 24 rooms total.
The three new state-of-the-art operating rooms should be ready by the end of 2026, Thomas says.