Leah Carpenter CEO Memorial Hospital West
How is the hospital expanding its services to meet the needs of the community? There are several expansion projects underway to support our cancer, cardiac, neuroscience and women and children’s service lines. The largest project that we are about to begin is our cancer center. We have outgrown the existing location and are investing $125 million to meet the growing needs of our community. The investment will nearly triple the size of what we have now. There will be no business interruption with this project, as the location is located near but outside of the hospital campus. It’s very exciting because we are a preeminent cancer center and we look forward to further expansion of our services. Each of the specialties are growing rapidly and we need the space to accommodate the number of patients who are coming to us for care. What trends are emerging that you believe should be monitored closely? Reimbursement for services provided is a concern for all healthcare organizations. In order to continue providing safe, quality care and service excellence, we must be reimbursed adequately for the services provided. This enables us to reinvest in our people, infrastructure, technology, equipment and a myriad of other things that are necessary to provide our communities with the care they deserve. Staying alert, aware and involved in existing trends and those on the horizon is also necessary to ensure that we are meeting the needs of our community. Ever-changing regulatory expectations, readiness for value-based care, population health, the future of the Affordable Care Act, further reductions in reimbursement, development of consumer-oriented care models, the shift of care to ambulatory settings, shortages in healthcare providers and the sequela of the pandemic, which is unknown at this time, will impact the industry in ways no one has seen before. Laser-focused strategic planning and meticulous execution will be critical. 132
| Invest: Greater Fort Lauderdale 2021 | HEALTHCARE
( ) on the economy, state finances, and the precarious health of Floridians.” Others, such as Anne Swerlick of the Florida Policy Institute, argue that under the Biden administration, Medicaid expansion would trigger a flood of federal matching and could go a long way to covering state budget gaps ravaged by pandemic-related revenue shortfalls. One twist to Medicaid expansion in Florida came when, in the waning days of the Trump administration, the federal government extended funding through 2030, instead of the 2024 funding limit the state had requested. While any longer-than-expected federal funding seems like positive news for Medicaid advocates, some
Medicaid enrollment in the state is expected to reach 4.6 million in the next year.
