In reviewing the events of the past year at Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, I am unable to consign 2014 to history. To me, it is inextricably tied to the future of our health care ministry at a time when we are innovating and adapting during an era of health care transformation.

 

Academic medical center: This October we began accepting applications for the inaugural class in the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine/Holy Cross Hospital Internal Medicine Residency Program. The internal medicine training program will begin in July 2015 with 18 residents and build over the next three years to 42 residents, the projected ongoing class size.

 

Firmly establishing the ACO model: Holy Cross Physician Partners (HCPP), a clinically integrated group of physicians, further proved that a health care delivery system based on quality outcomes rather than “fee-for-service” can be successful. In 2014, HCPP launched Cigna’s first collaborative care initiative in South Florida, began an accountable care collaboration with Aetna and expanded its scope of service with its original partner, Florida Blue.

 

Enlarging our footprint and services: Holy Cross expanded into Palm Beach County with the opening of an Urgent Care and Imaging Center in Boca Raton. It is the second of a series of such facilities we plan to open to provide more physician options with extended service hours that fit people’s hectic lives.

 

Beginning at birth: This year we opened the first phase of a new maternity unit which will feature state-of-the art technology in obstetrics and will enhance our family-centered maternity care. As the first hospital in Broward County to keep mother and baby together immediately following birth, we are excited about the new services this unit will offer.

 

Cardiovascular advancements: Clinical trials, new methodologies and new technologies were pioneered that will help countless patients in the future and lay the groundwork for new breakthroughs. Holy Cross was the first in Broward County to implant the Medtronic Reveal LINQ™ Insertable Cardiac Monitor System which continuously and wirelessly monitors a patient’s heart for up to three years. In addition, Holy Cross now performs transcatheter aortic valve replacement procedures transapically as well as transfemorally. Holy Cross offers both Edwards SAPIEN and Medtronic CoreValve devices, providing more options to address specific patient needs. And Holy Cross was designated as a Left Ventricular Assist Device Shared Care site to care for patients with heart pump implants as they travel or relocate from the site where the surgeries were performed.

 

Community service: As South Florida’s only non-profit Catholic hospital, we continue to collaborate with others in the community. In 2014, we contributed $27 million for the care of the poor and disadvantaged, community health services, health education, patient care services and subsidized health services. In addition to donating more than three tons of food to Broward’s food pantries, we created a food security program and awarded $25,000 in grants named in honor of my predecessor John C. Johnson.

 

Visionary partners: Our long-time partnership with the Harry T. Mangurian, Jr. Foundation has been transformational for the hospital and a 2014 gift in excess of $1 million will benefit the Partners in Breast Health program offering care for uninsured or underserved women and also fund research and technology advancements. This year I was proud to unveil the Jim Moran Heart and Vascular Research Institute Museum as a tribute to philanthropist Jim Moran and his lasting legacy of supporting new research including the $26 Million Moran Challenge, which through JM Family Enterprises, Inc. and Jim and Jan Moran, involves the community in philanthropy.

 

We could not have accomplished this without the talent and commitment that our Associates and physicians invest as they embrace the responsibilities of a new health care environment.