UF Health Jacksonville

UF Health Jacksonville’s origins date to 1870 as Florida’s first non-military hospital, known then as Duval Hospital. Since those early days, it has combined its strengths with the University of Florida College of Medicine – Jacksonville and now offers residents in Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia all the benefits of a comprehensive academic health center.

• UF primary care physicians and pediatricians located in more than 30 practices in Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia
• Level III neonatal intensive care unit
• One of three Poison Information Centers in Florida
• UF Health TraumaOne, the state’s first and region’s only Level I trauma center
• UF Health Proton Therapy Institute for advanced cancer treatment located on campus

UF Health Jacksonville opened a second campus in Jacksonville in 2015. UF Health North is a leading-edge medical complex that features a 28-bed emergency room, an outpatient surgery center, advanced imaging services and numerous physician offices. A 92-bed hospital opened two years later and is the only full-service hospital in North Jacksonville. UF Health North is expanding again, with construction of a second bed tower now underway. The six-story, 124-bed inpatient facility will include two floors dedicated to patients who require intense physical therapy, with two others focused on acute care. The tower is expected to be completed in spring 2024.

At a Glance

*Includes UF Health North
**Data is from fiscal year 2022-23

University of Florida Jacksonville Physicians Inc.

University of Florida Jacksonville Physicians Inc. is a network of more than 60 primary care and specialty practices that offer high-quality care from the more than 400 UF faculty physicians based in Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia. The network includes more than two dozen primary care practices throughout Duval County, with additional locations in Baker, Clay, Nassau and St. Johns counties in Florida, as well as Camden County in Georgia.

“We strive to heal, to comfort, to educate and to discover through quality health care, elimination of health disparities, medical education, innovation and research.”

Clinical Programs of Distinction

UF Health Jacksonville’s clinical programs of distinction offer integrated multidisciplinary care, medical and community education, and clinical research.

Neurology/Neurosurgery

The UF Health Neuroscience Institute in Jacksonville brings together a team of highly skilled neurologists and neurosurgeons who provide comprehensive care for patients suffering from diseases of the brain, spinal cord and nervous system, including brain tumors, aneurysms, epilepsy, movement disorders, multiple sclerosis, neuromuscular disease, sleep disorders, stroke and spinal disease, and injury. The largest integrated neuromedicine practice in Northeast Florida, it is also one of the most advanced, with most faculty having completed fellowship training in subspecialty fields. Among the recent, groundbreaking specialties is the new Pregnancy in Epilepsy Program, which addresses the unique challenges and concerns of pregnant women with epilepsy. In addition, the care team offers individualized care every month for women with epilepsy during their pregnancy.”

Cardiology

UF Health Jacksonville is renowned for treating patients with complex diseases and being on the forefront of advancing the science of interventional cardiology. The UF Health Cardiovascular Center in Jacksonville offers fully integrated, comprehensive heart programs, including a coronary interventional program, nuclear program, electrophysiology program, noninvasive program and peripheral interventional program. The center is also now home to an expanded cardiothoracic surgery program led by two distinguished surgeons and a new operating room with the latest leading-edge technology dedicated to CT procedures.

Cancer

At the UF Health Cancer Center, multidisciplinary teams of surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists and other cancer specialists work together using the latest diagnostic and therapeutic innovations to optimize cancer treatment outcomes. Additionally, the UF Health Proton Therapy Institute offers patients with certain cancers leading-edge treatment with minimal side effects.

Trauma

When UF Health TraumaOne began in 1983, it was the first trauma program in Florida. Today, it is still the only adult and pediatric Level I trauma program in Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia, with more than 4,300 patients treated in 2023. In 2018, TraumaOne received official verification from the American College of Surgeons, a distinction given only to trauma centers that meet the most stringent criteria. TraumaOne integrates a Level I trauma center, a three-helicopter aeromedical transport service, and professional and community trauma prevention and education programs.

UF Health Proton Therapy Institute

The UF Health Proton Therapy Institute is the only nonprofit proton facility affiliated with a major academic health center in the region. The 108,000-square-foot radiation oncology facility houses both conventional radiation and proton therapy technology. As one of the top five proton therapy facilities in the world for number of patients treated, we are proud to add our recent state of Florida designation as a “Cancer Center of Excellence” to our credentials. From the beginning of admission and the treatment process, patients at the UF Health Proton Therapy Institute get prompt and thorough answers and careful attention paid to all of their cancer treatment needs, including answers about proton therapy side effects, a thorough explanation of the treatment process, guidance on financial and insurance matters, and a connection to support groups and quality of life resources for patients and families.

UF Health Wildlight

The UF Health Wildlight medical office building opened in 2019 as part of the new Wildlight master-planned community in Nassau County. The building houses dentistry, family medicine, imaging, lab services, mental health services, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics and an urgent care center. UF Health Rehabilitation opened a year later in the heart of the Wildlight community, offering physical, occupational and speech therapy for adults and children.

UF Health East

UF Health and Jax Spine & Pain Centers, two of Northeast Florida’s leading health care providers, have collaborated on a new leading-edge multispecialty surgery center and medical office building, which opened in Jacksonville’s fast-growing Southside community in November 2022. The Centurion Surgery Center location is a $25 million project and represents the largest freestanding multispecialty surgery center on the First Coast to date. The center offers procedures for spine, orthopaedics, gastrointestinal, oral and maxillofacial, gynecology, as well as interventional pain management. The center operates five days a week and aims to drive down the cost of health care by safely performing appropriately complex surgeries in an outpatient setting.

UF Health Deerwood Park

UF Health Deerwood Park is a leading-edge facility that gives residents of Jacksonville’s Southside another crucial health care option in another convenient location, close to their homes. The new facility includes a wide range of services, including cardiology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, internal medicine, nephrology, ophthalmology, psychiatry, pulmonology and rheumatology.

UF Health Jacksonville Hybrid Urgent Care/Emergency Departments

In 2023, UF Health Jacksonville opened three revolutionary, state-of-the-art emergency and urgent care centers in Northeast Florida. The collaborative effort with Dallas-based Intuitive Health, one of the country’s pioneers in hybrid centers, is giving Northeast Florida residents leading-edge choices for care. The three new centers include full-service ER and urgent care services that are open 24/7. Each facility is equipped with on-site lab equipment and a radiology suite with X-ray and multi-slice CT scanners, and they are staffed with board-certified emergency medicine physicians. An emergency medicine specialist examines each patient and determines the appropriate level of care, which can bring down the potential cost for many patients. The UF Health locations are the first of their kind in Jacksonville.

Awards & Recognitions

U.S. News & World Report

In 2023, UF Health Jacksonville improved in both regional and statewide rankings among all hospitals, jumping to 3^rd in Jacksonville (from 4^th) and 18^th in Florida (from 24^th). The hospital was also singled out for seven high-performing areas: COPD, diabetes, heart attack, heart failure, kidney failure, PNA and stroke. The organization also had no below-average procedures or conditions, and it met or exceeded all the USNWR clinical outcome metrics used to score and rank the service lines and the procedures and conditions.

Magnet Designation

In 2021, UF Health Jacksonville earned its third consecutive Magnet designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, an honor that signifies the organization’s continuing commitment to exceptional nursing practice and offering patients the highest quality care possible.

Community Impact Award

In 2020, UF Health Jacksonville was singled out for its focus on providing outstanding care during the COVID-19 pandemic, receiving an inaugural “Community Impact Award” from the Jacksonville Business Journal. UF Health Jacksonville was selected for its ingenuity, thoughtfulness and sense of community service demonstrated during the pandemic. UF Health, assisted by the UF College of Medicine – Jacksonville, specifically focused on underserved parts of the community, providing free COVID-19 tests to residents who could not take part in other testing offered throughout the city, whether due to health conditions, lack of transportation or other obstacles.

Human Rights Campaign Foundation LGBTQ Healthcare Equality Leader

UF Health Jacksonville was recognized in 2020 as an LGBTQ Healthcare Equality Leader by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation in its annual Healthcare Equality Index, or HEI, report. This is the second year in a row that the organization has not only received the honor, but also achieved a perfect score. The HEI evaluates and scores health care facilities’ policies and practices related to equity and inclusion of their LGBTQ patients, visitors and employees across the nation. UF Health Jacksonville, which in 2019 became the first hospital in Northeast Florida to receive the designation, earned the maximum score in each category and a total score of 100 points.

Platinum Performance Achievement Award

UF Health Jacksonville earned the American College of Cardiology’s National Cardiovascular Data Registry Chest Pain – MI Registry Platinum Performance Achievement Award for 2021. It is one of only 212 hospitals nationwide to receive the honor. To receive the Chest Pain – MI Registry Platinum Performance Achievement Award, hospitals must demonstrate sustained achievement in the Chest Pain – MI Registry for two consecutive years (2019 and 2020) and perform at the highest level for specific performance measures. Full participation in the registry engages hospitals in a robust quality improvement process using data to drive improvements in adherence to guidelines and overall quality of care provided to heart attack patients.

National Accreditation for Exceptional Cancer Treatment

UF Health Jacksonville was awarded a three-year accreditation from the Commission on Cancer, a quality program of the American College of Surgeons, in the summer of 2021. To earn the accreditation, the cancer program met 34 quality care standards that focus on excellence in the delivery of comprehensive patient-centered care. The Commission on Cancer singled out UF Health Jacksonville for taking a multidisciplinary approach to treating cancer as a complex group of diseases that requires consultation among surgeons, medical, radiation and diagnostic oncologists, pathologists and other cancer specialists. A goal of this collaboration is to achieve better outcomes for the patient.

Gold Beacon Award for Excellence

UF Health Jacksonville’s medical intensive care unit, or MICU, has been honored with the prestigious Gold Beacon Award for Excellence by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, a significant milestone that reinforces the organization’s dedication to exceptional patient care. Only 20 hospital units in Florida received the Gold designation for a specific unit, and only two, including UF Health Jacksonville, received the Gold Award for MICU care. The Beacon Award for Excellence recognizes unit caregivers who successfully improve patient outcomes and align practices with AACN’s six Healthy Work Environment Standards. Units that achieve this three-year, three-level award with gold, silver or bronze designations meet national criteria consistent with the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and the National Quality Healthcare Award.

Silver Beacon Award for Excellence

UF Health Jacksonville’s neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU, earned the prestigious Silver Beacon Award for Excellence by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. It was just one of three NICUs in the state to receive the Beacon distinction in 2020. The AACN created the Beacon Award to recognize individual units within hospitals that distinguish themselves by improving patient care and exemplifying excellence in professional practice, patient care and patient outcomes.

UF Health Breast Center Accreditation

The National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC), a program administered by the American College of Surgeons (ACS), has granted accredited status to the UF Health Breast Center – Jacksonville. The accreditation signifies UF Health’s compliance with NAPBC standards that recognize a breast center’s leadership, clinical services, research, community outreach, professional education and quality improvement for patients. As an NAPBC-accredited center, the UF Health Breast Center – Jacksonville is committed to maintaining levels of excellence in the delivery of comprehensive, patient-centered, multidisciplinary care resulting in outstanding service for patients with breast disease.