About the Hospital District
Hospital Districts are units of local government. They were created at a time when community hospitals needed the financial support of the taxpayer to provide an acceptable level of service to its community as well as provide care for the indigent. Our district was created by Special Act of the Florida Legislature in 1959. It has both taxing and spending authority.
Generally speaking, the IRCHD has two functions. First, the District is responsible to oversee/operate the local hospital making sure healthcare is managed well for the benefit of our community. The second responsibility is to raise and spend tax dollars for the purpose of maintaining/improving the quality of healthcare in our community by supporting entities such as the VNA, TCCH, Meals on Wheels, and others.
In 2018 the IRC Hospital District signed a contract/lease which allows Cleveland Clinic to operate our community hospital for 30 years. The agreement provides for 3 additional extensions of 15 years. Whether the lease will be renewed rests solely in the discretion of Cleveland Clinic. The District is not in the position of refusing to renew with Cleveland Clinic.
As stated by the current board, the agreement between Cleveland Clinic and the Hospital District Board prevents the District from being involved in any aspects of the day to day operations of the hospital. Because the District has delegated its statutory obligations concerning the hospital, its focus has been on distributing the tax dollars to local health related entities in an effort to improve areas of medical services needed in our community.