Metro and CAN’s shared St. Petersburg space, April 2023. Watermark file photo.
TAMPA BAY | CAN Community Health and Metro Inclusive Health have announced the end of their formal collaborative agreement, detailing new efforts to focus on the region they’ve collectively served for over a decade.
While the organizations first partnered in 2013, each has more than three decades of experience. They currently share multiple sites in Tampa Bay, including a 47,000-square-foot center in St. Petersburg and 30,000-square-foot facility in Ybor.
The latter will become CAN’s new headquarters, which will relocate from Sarasota by the Fall of 2024. Alongside its existing medical clinic, which will include services ranging from primary care to dentistry, the space will house executives as well as senior and mid-level management.
“Since 1991, we’ve provided premier care through outreach, advocacy, education and research,” President and CEO Dr. Rishi Patel said in a press release April 17. “At CAN Community Health, excellent healthcare starts with a foundation of inclusion, compassion and respect regardless of race, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or the ability to pay.
“We are excited to make Tampa Bay our new home for our headquarters,” he continued. “It is a pivotal move for our organization and a game changer for all our patients.”
With locations in multiple states, CAN shared that since late 2021 its vision has “been to unify its national headquarters alongside one of its established medical clinics.” The Ybor site “offers a place where our team members can easily travel in and out of all our current markets while providing an unparalleled, diverse, inclusive quality of life and favorable cost of living,” Board Chairwoman Jackie Rogers said.
CAN will “continue to expand its roots” in Sarasota, the organization also noted, where it will house the Susan Terry Foundation. They will also continue to operate in the St. Petersburg facility.
Metro, however, will vacate each of the larger locations the two currently share. The organization announced in a press release April 18 that they will redistribute operations to six full-service satellite spaces in the next year.
Metro plans to double their locations from four to eight sites, continuing to offer its more than 100 health, wellness and social services. Facilities are expected in North Tampa, Brandon, Seminole Heights, South and Downtown Tampa and North, Central and South St. Petersburg.
The organization will retain their existing health centers in Clearwater and New Port Richey while reimagining the LGBTQ Welcome Center and Inclusivitea in St. Petersburg. Multiple services will be offered between the two and construction is nearly complete.
“90% of patients receive more than one service at Metro,” Metro Inclusive Health Co-CEO Priya Rajkumar said. “These moves will create substantial annual cost savings that can be redirected towards providing services to the community while also contributing to the financial longevity of the organization.”
“This is our opportunity to invest in local healthcare equity,” added Co-CEO Lorraine Langlois, who will retire after 30 years of service in 2023. “I’m delighted to see this organization innovating to meet the needs of our community. Our team is the best and brightest of the industry.”
Metro’s decision was informed by patient data, they noted, citing population growth, hybrid work schedules and more. The organization shared that within the last two years, they “experienced explosive growth with patients traveling from all corners of the region including as far as Lakeland and south of the Skyway.”
Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer Brian Bailey, who initiated the shift toward Metro’s new model, said “it’s clear that insured and uninsured patients will make the trip for access to quality inclusive healthcare.” He added that the changes will “get back to Metro’s roots by focusing on putting community healthcare back into more communities.”
For more information about CAN Community Health and its services, visit CANCommunityHealth.org. Learn more about Metro Inclusive Health and its offerings at MetroTampaBay.org.
