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Polk County faces an ongoing shortage of health care providers, including primary care physicians and dentists, but also OB-GYNs, whose numbers are projected to continue to drop statewide in the coming years.
According to the Florida Department of Health, there were 3.5 OB-GYNs per 100,000 people in Polk County in the 2023-24 fiscal year — less than half the statewide average of 8.7 practitioners per 100,000.
Dr. Ezer Ojeda, Central Florida Health Care OB-GYN director, said that in the next eight to nine years, 52% of OB-GYNs are going to retire, and according to the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis, Florida will face a shortage of 800 OB-GYNs by 2030 and over 1,000 by 2038.
Facing this shortfall, local health care systems are doing what they can to train and attract new providers to the area.
Ojeda said Central Florida Health Care currently employs four full-time and one part-time OB-GYN. He is actively recruiting another full-time provider. The health care group also works in conjunction with Florida State University, providing training for medical students in the OB-GYN program.
Lakeland Regional Health (LRH) has ten OB-GYN physicians and advanced practice providers (APP), like nurse practitioners, who provide women’s health services at various locations. The health system is developing an OB-GYN residency training program, as part of their Graduate Medical Education (GME) program.
“As GME residents plant roots in our community, we are confident that many will choose to call Lakeland home after their program has finished. Nationally, about 55% of GME residents stay in the state where they trained after their program concludes,” Terry Hamilton, executive vice president and chief operating officer at LRH, wrote in an email.
Watson Clinic recently recruited a registered nurse practitioner and board-certified nurse-midwife to provide services at the Watson Clinic Bella Vista Building. The health system currently employs six OB-GYN physicians and four OB-GYN advanced practice providers. Their professional services team is working to recruit additional OB-GYN physicians.
The Orlando Health Watson Clinic Lakeland Highlands Hospital, opening this summer, will have eight labor and delivery rooms, two special c-section operating rooms, and more than 25 postpartum rooms. A 12-room neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) will debut shortly after the hospital opens.
But a shortage of providers is not the only barrier to women’s health care in Polk.
Lack of health care coverage
Fifteen percent of people in Polk County lack health insurance coverage of any kind, according to the United Community Indicators. At Lakeland Volunteers in Medicine (LVIM) Executive Director Alice Koehler says they tend to see more uninsured women than men.
“If there’s a household and they come to enroll, the male spouse may be working, and his employer provides some health care, but the cost to add the female partner is cost prohibitive, so then she remains uninsured,” Koehler said.
Just over 1 in 4 people in Polk are enrolled in Medicaid, according to the United Community Indicators, and nearly 30% of the patients who accessed care at the Lakeland Planned Parenthood relied on the program, according to Michelle Quesada, vice president of communications for Planned Parenthood of Florida (PPFL).
In March 2026, the Lakeland Planned Parenthood closed, cutting off access to a range of preventive care, including life-saving cancer screenings, birth control, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, and virtual mental health care. The Lakeland clinic did not provide abortions.
Quesada said the closing of the Lakeland location “is the direct result of escalating government attacks that have blocked patients using Medicaid from accessing essential reproductive health care across Florida and the country.”
Planned Parenthood health centers in Tampa, Orlando, and Kissimmee will continue to provide care, and PPFL has recently expanded telehealth services. However, traveling at least an hour in each direction for an in-person appointment at another PPFL location may be out of the question for many women in Polk.
Confronting barriers
Where can women enrolled in Medicaid, uninsured women, or women seeking low-cost options find health care in Lakeland and Polk County?
Central Florida Health Care
Central Florida Health Care provides both general women’s health care services (gynecology, GYN) and maternity care (obstetrics, OB).
“We take patients with no insurance, take patients regardless where they come from, their status in the United States,” said Ojeda, OB-GYN director. “We’re open doors.”
The health system accepts Medicaid and, for those without insurance, can pro-rate fees based on the Federal Poverty Scale. Patients with no income are asked to pay a $25 fee, according to Barbara Turner, chief quality officer and risk manager. “However, no patient is turned away due to their inability to pay and we can work out a payment plan,” Turner wrote in an email.
To better serve the community, the organization is in the process of tripling the size of the Lakeland location at 1129 N. Missouri Ave., just west of Bryant Stadium.
Central Florida Health Care has additional Polk locations that provide OB-GYN care in Davenport, Haines City, Lake Wales, and Winter Haven. The Avon Park location in Highlands County provides women’s health care services, as does the Wauchula location in Hardee County.
Ojeda is originally from Puerto Rico, and as a Spanish speaker, he said he is able to help patients who prefer to communicate in Spanish. He said that Central Florida Health Care employs doctors and nurse practitioners who can help patients feel comfortable — men and women, Spanish and Haitian Creole speakers, and people of color.
Lakeland Regional Health
Lakeland Regional Health (LRH) has two primary care locations that are uniquely equipped to care for patients who are uninsured or enrolled in Medicaid.
- Morrell Primary Care, at 300 Parkview Place across from the LRH Medical Center, provides care for patients 18 and up. It offers walk-in and same-day appointments and on-site lab services.
- The Kathleen Family Medicine Clinic, at 2400 Kathleen Road, sees patients of all ages, including newborns.
Physicians at both locations can perform basic breast exams, PAP smears, pregnancy tests, and prescribe birth control. The Kathleen Family Medicine Clinic also provides prenatal care, except in high-risk pregnancies, and labor and delivery.
Both locations provide resources for financial assistance, Medicaid and Polk Healthcare Plan eligibility, and prescription assistance. Patient navigators are available to help uninsured patients find the help they need.
“Because pregnant women with limited access to care are at greater risk of complications, LRH recently secured a grant from Florida Blue to support maternal health outcomes for high-risk women through nurse navigation, doula support, education, and monitoring tools,” Terry Hamilton, executive vice president and chief operating officer, wrote in an email.
Hamilton encourages patients to establish a relationship with a primary care physician (PCP), “to take charge of their health, manage chronic conditions, and stay well.” It’s also more cost-effective than visits to the emergency room for routine or non-emergency care, he wrote.
Polk County’s healthcare safety net program
The Polk HealthCare Plan (PHP), WeCare of Central Florida, and LVIM are part of Polk County’s ‘healthcare safety net program.’ PHP and WeCare are funded by a half-cent sales tax approved by voters through December 2044, and about half of LVIM’s operating budget comes from the initiative. The tax generates around $80 million each year.
“We are one, if not the only, voter-approved local indigent health care safety net programs in the state of Florida,” said Joy Johnson, health and human services administrator for Polk County. “To me, that says a lot: What we’re doing really is different. It is groundbreaking and innovative in many ways, and we’re able to leverage this funding to do even more.”
Shana Santiago, operations director at WeCare, said she was amazed by all the health care resources that are available to people in need in Polk County, but she also said that many people are unaware of the safety net.
To qualify for these programs, an individual or family must be uninsured, living in Polk County, and have an income at or below 200% of the federal poverty threshold.
Lakeland Volunteers in Medicine
Lakeland Volunteers in Medicine (LVIM) provides gynecological care and primary care to uninsured women.
“Pretty much consistently since our founding in 2001, between 65 and 75% of our patient population is female,” said Alice Koehler, LVIM’s executive director.
“We have already begun to receive more phone calls to provide well-woman care since the announcement that Planned Parenthood is closing, and we have capacity right now,” Koehler said. “We will do everything we can do to maintain that capacity to continue providing the care that’s necessary.”
Individuals can go online to check eligibility or request an appointment.
Partnerships allow LVIM to expand their offerings and reach within the community. Working with MammoLink, a mobile mammogram bus visits LVIM six times a year so women can get their mammograms on site. On March 19, 2026, LVIM with MammoLink provided the most mammograms in a single day in the organization’s history, said Koehler.
Polk HealthCare Plan
The Polk HealthCare Plan (PHP) provides health coverage for uninsured Polk residents with limited income. The plan partners with licensed medical providers in the community to connect residents with the care they need. It does not provide insurance.
The program aims to remove barriers to health care while saving members as much money as possible, said Joy Johnson, Polk County health and human services administrator.
“There is no premium. There’s no deductible,” she said. “You can enroll all throughout the year.” Members pay minimal copays, ranging from $1 for a primary care appointment to $25 for a trip to the emergency room. The program waives copays on medications.
“We have over 1000 providers in our network,” Johnson said, including three gynecologists. “We have access for primary care, for specialty care, for hospital care, inpatient, outpatient, emergency room.” They can connect patients to behavioral health services, prescription services, and diagnostics.
PHP also partners with the YMCA of West Central Florida to provide memberships at the Bob Adams Family Community YMCA and Fontaine Gills Family YMCA in Lakeland.
Enrollment in the program can be completed online. PHP also holds regular health screening and enrollment events throughout Polk County, with team members who speak Spanish and Haitian Creole. Case managers are available at the Bartow office, 2135 Marshall Edwards Drive, to assist with enrollment and other health care questions.
PHP provides care for 7,000 to 8,000 members each year, and on average, 56% of members are women.
Johnson said demand for services is increasing. In the 2024-25 fiscal year, breast cancer screenings increased by 118% — from 187 to 408. From July to September 2024, they provided eight cervical cancer screenings. That number rose to 109 from July to September 2025 — a 1,262.5% increase.
As part of Polk County’s health care safety net, Johnson said PHP works to keep admin costs at 10% in order to ensure a majority of funding returns to in-need Polk residents. They are also able to leverage the funding to help certain programs secure additional federal funding.
WeCare of Central Florida
“Our program is called a ‘clinic without walls,’ said Shana Santiago, operations director. “What that means is that our specialty providers that volunteer with our program see our patients in their office.”
WeCare of Central Florida provides primary care, women’s health care services, eye exams, glasses, medical equipment, and more. It fills in gaps, providing services to PHP members that are not available through the health care plan. LVIM also refers patients to WeCare for additional services.
WeCare’s Project Think Pink provides free mammograms and diagnostic breast care services to uninsured women and men in Polk County. “We do mammograms, breast ultrasounds, MRIs, biopsy, anything,” Santiago said.
The program is focused on preventative care but continues to provide for patients even after an abnormal finding or diagnosis of breast cancer. “We work in conjunction with Moffitt if the patient does get to a cancer diagnosis that can’t be treated with an excisional biopsy,” Santiago said.”We work with their charity program to get them the additional resources after that.”
Project Ride to Health is a “bridge-the-gap” transportation program. “Although we found providers to see patients with their needs, a lot of patients were missing appointments due to no transportation, so we petitioned for a grant to bridge that gap,” Santiago said. “We partnered with Uber health, and so we offer ride services through that program.”
WeCare also recently expanded its Ride to Wellness program, which provides once-a-week, free transportation to Walmart or a food pantry. Santiago said Ride to Wellness has fewer restrictions on who can qualify. Individuals must be Polk residents 18 or older, living independently, who face barriers to healthy food access. Those interested in the program complete a pre-screening survey to begin the enrollment process.
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