What sent you over the causeway for medical care last winter? For many Gasparilla Island residents the answer was an imaging appointment. That kind of errand used to fill an afternoon. This season it can be done on Park Avenue, a short ride from the first tee at 500 Palm Avenue, and the list of things handled on the island keeps growing month by month through next spring.
The new Boca Grande Health Clinic isn't a finished building that opened on a single day. It is adding services in stages, and the stages fall across the same months the island is full. Owners coming back for the 2026-27 season arrive partway through the rollout. Some services are already running, some start within days, and two more are listed as coming later.
A building that opened after the season ended
The clinic saw its first patients in the new building on May 19, 2026. Two weeks earlier, the Boca Beacon reported that more than 300 people came to the dedication of what it called a $30 million project. By late May, many seasonal owners had already gone north, so for a large part of the island, this winter is the first chance to use the building.
The new clinic stands at 280 Park Avenue, on the site of the former Annex, which was torn down to make room for it. It is the latest step in a long history. In a 2024 history of the campus, the Boca Beacon traced the clinic back to 1947, when Louise du Pont Crowninshield started it. It began in the Depot, moved into rented space in the Fugate building, opened its own building in 1964, and replaced that one in 1990. The 1990 building is still standing, and it figures in the final stage of the rollout.
What moved onto the island in May
The biggest change is diagnostic imaging. The clinic now has its own CT scanner, a GE Revolution Apex, and a GE Definium digital X-ray system. According to the clinic, a radiologic technologist and a clinic physician review the CT images, which are then sent securely to a board-certified radiologist for interpretation. The building also has expanded lab services, rooms for visiting specialists, a telehealth room, and negative-pressure exam rooms for urgent care.
Getting imaging done in time used to be a real problem. At the clinic's Grande Rounds program in February, physician Ray James, D.O., said that some patients had to be sent to the emergency room just to get imaging done in time. In the clinic's own recap of that session, he described the new building as a way to cut down on those trips. The same recap notes that the building has three negative-pressure exam rooms and keeps urgent care separate from primary care.
The clinic states the goal plainly. In its October 22 announcement, it describes the new imaging and lab services as "designed to reduce the need to drive off the island for hard-to-get appointments."
November adds the next services
The fall hires are what make this season different from the summer. Dr. John C. Porter, D.O. became Medical Director on October 15. He is a board-certified family medicine physician with more than 20 years of experience, and he previously practiced in Wisconsin. Lylian Hermann starts as the clinic's Women's Health Nurse Practitioner on November 2. The clinic calls her hiring "an important new commitment to expanding women's health services." Mindy Hoskins, an ultrasound technologist with more than 20 years of experience, also joins in November. The clinic's September and October updates already listed ultrasound among its services, and its October 22 announcement says she will help launch the new on-island ultrasound service starting in November, using a GE LOGIQ e system.
Here is where each part of the rollout stands as the season opens:
| Service | Status in late October 2026 |
|---|---|
| CT and digital X-ray | Running since the building opened in May |
| Expanded lab, telehealth, urgent care rooms | Running since May |
| Women's health nurse practitioner | Starts November 2 |
| On-island ultrasound | Service launching in November with a new ultrasound technologist |
| Retail pharmacy | Described on October 9 as "opening later this year" |
| Physical, rehabilitation and occupational therapy with hydrotherapy pool | Former clinic building under renovation, with a project window of August 2026 to March 2027 |
The last two rows are the part of the rollout still ahead. In its October 9 note to returning residents, the clinic said the pharmacy will leave "one less reason to leave the island," but it hasn't announced an opening date. The therapy wing is going into the 1990 building, and the clinic's gallery labels the hydrotherapy pool "Coming March 2027." A September 16 update on this second phase describes the therapy services it will add but gives no completion date. For now, March 2027 is a target.
How the clinic bills
The clinic's patient page states its payment policy directly: "Boca Grande Health Clinic does not accept insurance. Payment is required at the time of service." It accepts cash, checks, and major credit cards. At the February Grande Rounds, CEO Mark Driscoll explained the details. According to the clinic's recap, the clinic is not part of any health insurance plan and does not accept assignment from Medicare or Medicare Advantage. As a courtesy, it files claims to Medicare and commercial insurers for primary care patients, and any reimbursement goes directly to the patient. Urgent care patients get a receipt to submit to their insurer themselves.
Lab work has its own rules, which matter to anyone whose last visit was a year ago. According to the clinic's services page, lab services are only for established patients who have had an appointment in the past 12 months, and the clinic only draws specimens ordered by its own providers. Fasting draws are scheduled between 8:45 and 10 a.m., Monday through Friday. All samples go to Quest Diagnostics for processing. For Medicare patients, the clinic passes billing information to Quest and charges a collection fee at the visit. Private-pay patients pay for both collection and processing at the visit and get a receipt to submit to their insurer, though the page notes that many insurers only cover lab work done at their own designated labs. Private-pay patients can ask for an order to take to their insurer's lab off the island instead.
The clinic's published policies don't list separate billing rules for CT or X-ray, so it makes sense to ask about imaging charges when booking. This is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice, so check with your insurer or Medicare plan, and with the clinic directly, about how your own coverage applies.
What still takes you off the island
Even with all of this, the clinic doesn't replace a hospital. It coordinates about 1,500 specialist referrals a year. According to the Grande Rounds recap, it finds the right specialist, sends records, and tracks each referral so it doesn't "disappear into a black hole."
Emergencies work the same way they always have. At the same session, Dr. James asked the audience to think in terms of "life or limb." Chest pain, signs of stroke, severe bleeding, or loss of consciousness call for 911 right away. If you aren't sure, call the clinic, because a physician is on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. He explained that emergency patients go by ambulance or, when needed, by air, and that for trauma, stroke, and cardiac cases, EMS protocols send patients to the hospital best equipped to treat them quickly. Someone in the audience asked what to do when cell service is weak. The doctors suggested satellite calling on newer phones, stepping outside for a better signal, or going straight to the island firehouse.
Before your first appointment of the season
The clinic's patient page lays out the steps:
- Call 941-964-2276 to book an in-person or telehealth visit.
- Fill out the online Pre-Visit form, which comes by text or email. Registration and medical-records release forms can also be downloaded.
- Bring a photo ID, your medications or a list of them, and your Medicare card if you have one.
- Plan around regular hours, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. except holidays. Summer hours end at 4 p.m.
If you'd like to see the building before you need it, the clinic posted a behind-the-scenes video tour on October 9, led by Director of Nursing Natalie Cole, R.N. It walks through the exam rooms, the imaging equipment, and the separate primary and urgent care areas.
For many owners, how close the island's services are matters more each year, and the clinic on Park Avenue is one of the biggest of those services. If you're weighing what this season's changes mean for how you spend your time on Gasparilla Island, Jeff Moore and The Moore Team are glad to talk it through, along with the other practical details of island life. Book a Private Consultation.
