West Boca Medical Center (WBMC) opened its doors almost 25 years ago as a community hospital to focus on primary care along with women’s and children’s services. Keeping abreast of changing patient needs, the facility now offers a broad array of services, including general medical and surgical care, cardiac and surgical intensive care, outpatient surgery services, 24-hour emergency services for adults and children, diabetes education, a cystic fibrosis program, outpatient rehabilitation services and a sleep diagnostic center.

 

Part of Tenet South Florida, the 195-bed acute care hospital has achieved a number of important medical milestones over the past several years:

• Tenet Health Care Corporation named WBMC to the company’s 2010 Circle of Excellence, honoring Tenet hospitals that have achieved the highest levels of quality, service and operational performance. Key metrics used in the evaluation were patient, physician and employee satisfaction scores, clinical quality and financial performance.

• West Boca is the first in Palm Beach County to offer the da Vinci S Surgical System. This robotics system can help surgeons perform minimally invasive procedures such as prostatectomy, hysterectomy and others with cutting-edge precision. West Boca also uses Single Incision Laparoscopic Surgery (SILS) procedures, an advancement within laparoscopic surgery that aids with smaller incisions.

• WBMC has received the HealthGrades Maternity Care Excellence Award five years in a row. HealthGrades ranks West Boca’s maternity program among the top 5 percent in the nation. Last year, 2,112 babies were delivered at West Boca.

• West Boca also has the only Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in North Broward County and Boca Raton – the highest level in the state. Ten Level III beds have recently been added to the NICU, which provides the most extensive services to premature and at-risk babies.

• WBMC has created progressive orthopedics and sports medicine programs that tailor surgical and non-surgical treatments to meet individual needs and use advanced technology and time-tested techniques to achieve optimal results. Services include pain management, advanced diagnostic imaging and physical therapy.

• West Boca has one of the only outpatient pediatric rehabilitation units in the local area, and plans to expand the program through partnerships with local organizations.

 

“2009 was a stellar year for us where many things came together and we enjoyed outstanding success,” said CEO Mitch Feldman. “WBMC is a community hospital with the technology needed to provide excellent healthcare to our patients. We’ve made significant investments in attracting talent and specialists. We have a well-educated, highly trained medical staff with exposure in advanced surgical techniques who wish to bring their experience from a university hospital setting to a community hospital. We’ve been able to help them take that vision and make it happen.”

 

West Boca serves 11,000 inpatients and nearly 70,000 outpatients every year. It has expanded off the main campus located at 21644 State Road 7 to better serve the community in several locations, including the Outpatient Surgical Facility and the West Boca Diagnostic Imaging Center.

 

“We have an ambitious plan to extend our bed size in anticipation of an aging population that requires more healthcare services,” said Feldman. “We will maintain our excellent reputation for additional children’s services, and as we move to the adult arena, we will provide more cardiac, neurology, orthopedics and oncology services.”

 

Over the next few years, West Boca will be working toward applying and performing well with the various opportunities and challenges that federal healthcare reform represents. Tenet is assisting all its hospitals with electronic medical records (EMR) requirements and helping evaluate available systems.

 

“We look at EMR as a key objective over the next 18 months,” Feldman said. “We can also partially address the need for more primary care physicians through an affiliation agreement with Florida Atlantic University, which has recently established a medical education program.

 

In years to come, West Boca Medical Center will continue its commitment to the community, developing new service lines, partnering with local organizations for healthcare programs, and keeping abreast of community health needs.

 

“Don’t be fooled by the size of our hospital,” said Feldman. “We have an amazing group of doctors, staff and some of the most cutting-edge technology to better serve our community.”