Interview: Leah Carpenter, CEO

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 A ordable 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. ( ) 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.

Joe Stuczynski

CEO – Memorial Hospital Pembroke

I really think telehealth is going to stick even after the pandemic has passed. It’s helped us reach areas we normally wouldn’t be able to reach. We’ve also been able to talk to patients who are afraid to come into the o ce. Being able to remotely follow up with patients will be big going forward. Instead of waiting a month to revisit your doctor after an appointment, patients can do a quick five-minute teleconference. This provides more e cient care to clients and physicians become more productive.

think this may make lawmakers less inclined to expand the program more in line with ACA standards. There are also a pair of Medicaid bills in the state legislature: One mandating medical faculty plans and essential hospital providers to contract with all managed care plans or else lose funding, and another standardizing the state’s automatic assignment program for Medicaid beneficiaries that fail to choose a specific plan.

Vaccinations Broward County is up and running on its vaccination efforts, with 829,000 eligible residents, or 53%, receiving at least the first of two shots, as of May 3, 2021. By the end of May, almost all municipalities in Broward County had vaccinated over half of all residents, with only a handful below 50%.

In addition to participating local hospitals and pharmacy chains, Broward has 10 Florida Department of Health public vaccination sites, which do not require an appointment, as well as at-home service provided by the Florida Division of Emergency Management. The Broward County School District began vaccinating students 16-and over at all district high-school campuses without an appointment. Vaccination is also offered to all school faculty and accompanying parents.

Broward has outperformed all other counties statewide and has achieved an 81% vaccination rate for residents age 65 and older.

Florida has received $194 million of the $3 billion pool of funds provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for its vaccination efforts and COVID restrictions, which had been lax relative to most other highly populated states, have been removed statewide by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

A 2020 TECconomy/ BIO profile notes roughly 6,700 employers and over 93,000 jobs in biosciences in Broward County

Telehealth As COVID lockdowns persisted throughout 2020, onsite medical appointments became prioritized for those with pre-existing health conditions – much like workrelated online video calls became more ubiquitous over the past year – and now look to be an expanding aspect of medical treatment going forward.

Last year, Florida enacted a telehealth law, Section 456.47, which created a set of best standards and practices for providers, registration policies for outof-state providers, as well as an examination of fees charged by providers.

The county already had two established telehealth networks in place before the pandemic hit: BHealthy Now, connecting the community with board-certified physicians, and Nurse Connect, a free service for those without primary care and providing access to healthcare services 24 hours a day.

Healthline reports that FOLX, a nationwide telehealth platform launched in December, plans to expand nationwide. Offered to anyone over age 18 and without insurance requirements, FOLX focuses on underserved communities.

Although telehealth is not a new trend, its use skyrocketed into the mainstream as a result of the pandemic, and many believe its use will continue to enhance healthcare services. “We’ve seen a 587% increase in the use of telehealth over the course of the pandemic,” said Jessica Lerner, president and CEO of Community Care Plan, in an interview with Invest:. “I think that we must continue to expand on telehealth and the pandemic has provided the opportunity to do that. We’ve actually piloted a telehealth program that provides parents with medical devices for kids, so they can check their ears, throat and so forth and they can give the information to the doctor via their cell phone. It’s been very well-received by the participating families and has reduced the need for them to visit urgent care or the emergency room.”

Bio and life sciences Biomedical research and life sciences, long a booming sector in the Greater Fort Lauderdale region, exhibits strong partnerships between the private sector and ( )

Randy Gross

CEO – Broward Health Imperial Point

A huge part of our business is surgery and we have some amazing surgical facilities on campus, providing everything from oncological surgery, orthopedics to bariatrics. We had to evaluate how to continue this surgical work while also building upon it. Added safety measures have been put in place to include preCOVID testing to ensure the wellbeing of all. While adopting these new measures, e ciencies remained to provide an optimal patient experience and a superior service to our physicians. To further advance our cardiology services, we will soon be breaking ground on a new interventional Cath lab and noninvasive cardiology suite. Local EMS is a great partner as we care for STEMI patients in the community, and this investment will help ensure we are providing the latest technology.