By HFT Staff

Sarasota Memorial Hospital-Venice (SMH-Venice) has operated at or near full capacity since opening Nov. 11, 2021, pointing to the pressing healthcare needs in rapidly growing south Sarasota County communities. 

In its first six months of operation, the SMH-Venice team managed more than 16,000 visits to its emergency room, admitted roughly 5,200 patients, performed over 1,400 surgeries and delivered more than 60 babies. 

With higher-than-anticipated volumes from Day 1, SMH leaders immediately began plans to add a third patient care tower to the Venice campus. Pre-construction work is under way on the $113 million expansion, which will add 68 more private patient suites by early 2024 pending design and permitting approvals. 

The 110-bed hospital includes a 28-bed emergency care center, eight surgical suites, dedicated labor, delivery, recovery, post-partum birthing suites and a 22-bed pandemic-ready intensive care unit. 

The 65-acre campus was designed to be flexible and expandable without impacting current operations. In future phases, SMH-Venice can more than double in size to 400 private inpatient suites, 16 surgical suites and a 50-bed emergency room. Bringing Sarasota Memorial's physician base farther south also will help build the medical staff and support plans for a future hospital in North Port.