By Vanessa Orr

Since becoming CEO of Cano Health in August 2023, Mark Kent, FACHE, FACMPE, has taken steps to restructure operations to better position the organization for long-term success. One of his goals was to achieve $290 million in cost savings and business optimization initiatives in order to bring the corporation out of bankruptcy.

According to Kent, in May of this year, the organization filed its disclosure statement and reached an agreement between the company, the ad hoc committee and the unsecured creditors committee (UCC) in support of its plan to move forward. The judge agreed, and by July, Cano Health is expected to emerge from bankruptcy.

“Things are tracking along very well—we’ve accomplished over $250 million in cost savings to date and believe we will slightly exceed our $290 million goal,” said Kent.

“We’re very much looking forward to exiting bankruptcy, primarily to ensure that our patients, employees, health plan partners, and vendors fully understand how economically sound we are as a company,” he added. “We will have the right capital structure to put us on a very sound and solid footing.”

In 2024, which Kent calls a “transformative year,” the company reduced its footprint, leaving other states and focusing only on operations in Florida. Within the state, it concentrated on specific markets and having the right number of medical centers in those geographies. Unfortunately, these changes often required difficult decisions, including reducing the company’s number of employees.

“We took a very methodical, data-driven approach to identifying the markets we needed to close,” said Kent, adding that the company also right-sized its cost structure while strengthening its operational and financial performance, and enhanced the way that it approaches and manages patient care.

“We’re starting to see the fruits of our labor,” he noted. “In the first quarter of the year, I’m proud to say that we’re tracking to our goal and our budget. And we’ll be emerging from bankruptcy as a private company.”

According to Kent, 86 percent of the company’s lenders that supported its plan will be the new owners of the company.

“The management team and I are looking forward to engaging with new owners, patients, vendors, and employees as this new entity,” he added.

Future Plans

According to Kent, the Cano Health that emerges from this process will be focused on strategic and smart growth.

“Within our existing footprint, we want to improve the services we provide patients in our medical centers, and we want to retain the patients we have today,” he said. “We want to get back to basics, if you will, which means caring for our associates and patients as warmly as we do our own individual families. That’s what made Cano great to begin with, and we want to return to that in a smarter, more structured way.

“As I’ve traveled around to all of our medical centers, I’ve had numerous patients tell me that they felt that Cano had lost its way when it became a publicly traded company,” he continued. “What had made Cano great was gone. I want to ensure that all of our patients experience our caring nature and that we treat them like family when they’re here.”

Kent cites some already successful programs that put patients at the forefront. The care management team at Cano at Home, for example, has successfully identified high-risk members and enrolled them in programs that are critical to their long-term care, as well as important to the financial success of the health system.

He notes that 2025 should turn out to be a very profitable year for Cano Health.

“We are taking a very measured, disciplined approach to our three-year plan, and so far, it is tracking along very nicely with our goals,” he said. “I am very proud of the work of our management team, inclusive of the advisors that have helped us through this restructuring process. They have been phenomenal to get us where we are today, and to help us sharpen our long-range plan to realize results.”

An entrepreneur at heart, Kent says that he’s pleased to see the changes that Cano Health has undergone.

“Despite the challenges we’ve faced as an organization, it’s the people that have always kept me at Cano Health,” said the former nurse and builder of three healthcare companies.

“When you engage with the employees here, you see their dedication and sense their caring,” he added. “It’s been a great honor for me to lead the company during a very troubling time in its history and through this transformation—this time, the right way.”

For more information, go to www.canohealth.com.