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News: Tampa doctors plan to build outpatient bariatric surgery center July 16, 2006 by Margie Manning Drs. Lee Grossbard, Richard DiCicco, Pandurangan Krishnaraj and Ernest Rehnke are experts in laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding, or the lap-band procedure, the only procedure that will be performed in the outpatient center. TAMPA -- Four area doctors have partnered with a Charlotte, N.C., firm to build what is believed to be the first Florida outpatient center devoted exclusively to bariatric surgery for the severely overweight. The 7,000-square-foot center, branded as "Journey Lite of West Florida," is under construction at 5329 Primrose Lake Circle in the Tampa Palms Professional Center and is expected to open in about a year, pending approval by the Agency for Health Care Administration, said Edmund Bujalski, president and CEO of Bariatric Partners Inc. Prior to opening the facility, the physicians involved in the project will use an existing outpatient surgery center to begin doing bariatric surgeries, which are procedures to help severely overweight people lose weight by restricting food intake. Bariatric Partners is negotiating with two Tampa outpatient surgery operators, Bujalski said, and hopes to be operating at an interim site within two or three months. Bujalski declined to discuss financial terms of the joint venture, including how much the doctors have invested and how much the project will cost, although he said it would be in line with other ambulatory surgery centers. AmSurg Corp. (Nasdaq: AMSG), a Nashville-based operator of outpatient surgery centers, said it typically spends $1.5 million to $2 million to develop a new facility. There are 360 ambulatory surgery centers in Florida, but Peter Lohrengel, executive director of the Florida Society of Ambulatory Surgery Centers, said he's not aware of any that perform only bariatric surgeries.
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