Orlando Regional Healthcare, which has a Downtown campus that includes the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, has filed a formal statement with the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration, asking that body to deny Nemours' application for an operational permit. The ORH statement argues the Nemours Orlando Childrens Hospital would duplicate services not only at its Arnold Palmer Hospital but also at a nearby Florida Children's Hospital run by Florida Hospital, another competitor.

The ORH statement argues the planned 28-acre, south Orlando Nemours' class II pediatric hospital would be only four miles from its Downtown medical campus. ORH has partnered with the Nemours Children's Clinic since 1997. ORH is investing $125 million on new and renovated facilities, as GlobeSt.com previously reported.

At the same time that ORH filed its brief, Nemours also filed its first formal application for the new hospital. The 200-page Nemours statement maintains its new facility will not duplicate services at any other metro Orlando hospital.