Broward Health kicked off 2023 by celebrating its 85th anniversary with multiple initiatives, including its first-ever State of the System address at which leaders honored the healthcare system’s 85-year legacy and shared their vision for the future.
Throughout the year, the system made significant strides toward achieving that vision by entering a partnership to bring academic medicine to Broward County, expanding its reach into underserved areas, and introducing innovative medical technology to advance patient care.
Academic Medicine
The presence of an academic medical center in a community not only benefits healthcare providers but the people being served. Broward Health and Florida Atlantic University announced a monumental partnership agreement to introduce academic medicine to Broward County. In addition to creating an expanded healthcare network, this partnership will enhance physician training and the opportunity for joint research that can advance medicine and patient care. More information on the partnership will be announced in the new year.
Expanding Footprint
Broward Health began developing two new facilities to address medical deserts that exist in several Broward County communities where care is not available close to home.
This includes the city of Sunrise, where Broward Health broke ground on a freestanding emergency department that the system expects to complete in 2025. For this facility, Broward’s two public safety net healthcare systems, Broward Health and Memorial Healthcare System, entered a first-of-its-kind collaboration to provide care. Through this partnership, Broward Health will deliver adult emergency care and Joe DiMaggio’s Children’s Hospital will provide pediatric emergency care.
Addressing another area of concern, Broward HealthPoint, a Broward Health affiliate, is collaborating with Community Care Plan and other community partners to open a maternity care center to serve areas in the 33311/33313 zip codes, currently known as maternity care deserts. The project, funded in part through an $850,000 grant from the Health Foundation of South Florida, will include a prenatal center offering a centering pregnancy program. Research shows that women who participate in centering pregnancy programs have a 2% lower preterm birth rate than the national average.
Investment in Technology
Broward Health continues to lead in the introduction of innovative medical technology to the community.
In March, Broward Health Medical Center was the first hospital in Florida to adopt the Genesis Robotic Magnetic Navigation system by Stereotaxis. Used for cardiac ablation procedures, this technology expands capabilities to treat the most complex heart arrhythmias.
Broward Health Medical Center was also the first hospital in Broward County equipped with the da Vinci single-port robotic surgical system. Designed for single-incision or natural orifice surgery, the system is currently used to advance offerings in head and neck surgery as well as urologic surgery.
Broward Health Coral Springs expanded its state-of-the-art cardiac services in March by adding a second cardiac catheterization lab, a bi-plane lab that can capture two sets of images simultaneously with just one injection of contrast. In October, the hospital also acquired the AquaBEAM robotic system used to perform Aquablation therapy, a minimally invasive treatment for benign prostate hyperplasia.
Strong Financial Position
Improved operational and financial performance have borne fruit and contributed to Broward Health’s strategic growth. Thanks to the leadership’s focus on performance, this year Broward Health received higher financial ratings from Moody’s Investor Services as well as S&P Global Rating.
Broward Health’s strengthened financial position also enabled its governing board, the North Broward Hospital District Board of Commissioners, to reduce taxes paid by North Broward property owners by reducing its millage rate for 2024.
Recognizing the financial challenges so many residents are facing, Broward Health President & CEO Shane Strum said, “Our community was there for us these past few challenging years, but now it’s Broward Health’s turn to return the favor and give back.”
During the past eight decades, Broward Health has been an integral part of Broward County and matched South Florida’s explosive growth, becoming one of the ten largest public healthcare systems in the U.S. Looking forward, the system will use the region’s growth and evolving healthcare needs as a guide for future strategies, so that Broward Health continues to deliver the care the community needs, where it needs it.
To keep apprised of the latest developments at Broward Health, visit www.BrowardHealth.org.