"Palm Beach County 2030: More Patients, More Provider Choices Than Ever Before" - Alexandra Clough
Hospital companies, particularly from the Northeast, are expanding to Florida to meet the needs of their patients who spend time in the state for part of the year. Health care providers are expecting big business in 2030, partly from more Baby Boomers retiring to Florida, but also from an expected 200,000-plus added residents in the county that will add critical mass and a vast variety of medical needs and healthy living plans. Not only will there be more patients, but with medical and technological advances, these patients also will be living longer, too. Community hospital? Brand-name hospital? Regional chain? For-profit or not-for-profit facility? Does it matter? It does, if patients want excellent care, said Dr. Kenneth L. Davis, president and chief executive of Mount Sinai New York Health System.
Patients will need to do their homework to discern if a hospital company truly is excellent, or just touts its services with no valid objective measure. “Consumers have to be thoughtful about where they want to get their care,” Davis said. The options will be there. One example is Mount Sinai New York, a not-for-profit medical center ranked among the top 10 in the nation for cardiology and heart surgery, according to U.S. News & World Report. Arthur Klein, MD, president of the Mount Sinai Health Network, said plans are afoot to grow the center’s existing cardiology presence in West Palm Beach by adding pulmonologists. Dr. Arthur Klein, president of the Mount Sinai Health Network, said plans are afoot to grow the center’s existing cardiology presence in West Palm Beach by adding pulmonologists. The hospital company also plans to build a peripheral vascular intervention lab at its Palm Beach Gardens office. The incidence of vascular problems is growing due to diabetes, age and lifestyle, Klein said. Cancer treatment also is being eyed by Mount Sinai New York, and Klein said an alliance with Florida Cancer Specialists, a large medical practice, is in the works. Moreover, in the future, Mount Sinai might also create a West Palm Beach location of its famed Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center of New York.
— Kenneth L. Davis, MD, President, CEO, Mount Sinai Health System
— Arthur Klein, MD, President, Mount Sinai Health Network