On Thursday afternoon, the cell phones of thousands of Tallahassee residents buzzed with a burning question.
“Tallahassee Memorial Hospital has a Medicare ‘D’ rating. Would you support a new partnership, such as with FSU Health, to deliver better care locally?”
It then asks recipients to vote by punching a number on the keypad.
Bugra Demirel, through the means of his pro-business organization, Grow Tallahassee, blasted the poll out almost a week after he wrote an article critical of how Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare has handled negotiations to launch an academic medical center in Tallahassee. Hospital officials, in turn, called the poll “misleading” and “defamatory.”
Who’s behind the poll?
Demirel told the Tallahassee Democrat that Grow Tallahassee launched the poll that points out the hospital’s lackluster Medicare rating.
Grow Tallahassee, a pro-growth advocacy group, supports the majority voting bloc on the city commission that has been advancing the hospital handover to Florida State University.
He told the Tallahassee Democrat the poll is funded by the organization and not funded by his political committee of the same name, because this is “not a political issue.”
The Grow Tallahassee political committee has been a main backer of Mayor John Dailey and commissioners Curtis Richardson and Dianne Williams-Cox and has contributed tens of thousands toward their past election campaigns.
Owner of Demirel International and Developer Bugra Demirel poses for a portrait Wednesday, July 15, 2020.
In his opinion piece, the prominent local businessman behind SOMO Walls and political operator questioned whether TMH’s push to keep the hospital controlled by community stakeholders is really as altruistic as it says.
Demirel said if TMH wanted to serve the community, they would move forward with the deal that ensures higher education representation on the hospital’s governance board, which could transform Tallahassee healthcare with a sprawling medical enterprise like UF Health.
TMH, however, refuses to give up one of its community seat, noting that giving a majority of seats to academic institutions would effectively lead to state control of the hospital and make it subject to politics, like the DeSantis administration’s targeting of vaccines.
Why is the poll controversial?
Shortly after the poll went out, TMH officials pushed out a media statement deriding the poll as “blatantly false and defamatory.” They added they would “pursue all appropriate actions to hold those responsible accountable.”
The hospital said the poll’s accusation that TMH has a Medicare “D” rating is completely wrong and “the deliberate dissemination of false information about TMH undermines public trust and will not be tolerated.”
“Medicare does not issue letter grades. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) uses a five-star rating system, and TMH currently holds a two-star rating — a score projected to be three stars in April 2026 update based on more current data,” the hospital’s spokesperson Stephanie Derzypolski wrote.
Demirel pushed back in a statement of his own.
“Our intent with the poll is simple: to give Tallahassee residents a voice in the future of their healthcare,” he wrote. “This poll reflects growing public concern, and we believe the community deserves to be heard. If TMH believes the facts are unfavorable, they should focus on improving them, not attacking a simple poll. “
What were the poll’s results?
While critics have derided the text messages as a manipulative “push poll,” Demirel said that as of 2:13 p.m., 2,873 of 4,274 people — nearly 70% — voted in favor of the “partnership.”
What are people saying about the poll?
The poll has grabbed the attention of the community, with residents taking to social media to see if others received the out-of-the-blue message too.
In a Tallahassee Facebook group, dozens of commenters said they received it and questioned whether it was legitimate or a scam.
“Yes……. Blocked and deleted,” one person wrote. “I trust nothing. Way too many scams going around.”
“Terrible, biased survey question clearly posted by someone who wants the FSU takeover (or a research company that represents FSU),” another comment reads. “I would not respond to it and certainly would not believe the results.”
Others questioned the validity of the poll’s accusation.
“Yes, I did my research, I’m confused. I thought TMH received a B?” another commenter wrote.
This cell phone poll is causing controversy in Tallahassee.
The hospital’s spokesperson Stephanie Derzypolski and her husband also took to the post to clarify for poll recipients that the poll is “misleading.”
“Medicare doesn’t even issue letter grades,” Derzypolski wrote. “They use five star ratings… TMH has a ‘B’ with the Leapfrog Group (hospital rankings).”
But for some the distinction didn’t matter.
“I mean — if we compare a 5 star rating system to grades, two stars is equivalent to a D. So, same same,” one commenter wrote.
What is the background of the debate?
The deep divide over the future governing board of TMH burst into the open Nov. 6 as dueling columns added fuel to the fiery debate over control of the community hospital.
TMH’s current board chair, Dr. James Killius, said the hospital has promised to serve the community and intends to keep that promise by ensuring medical decisions aren’t tainted by state political influence. At the same time, Demirel said if TMH wanted to serve the community, they would move forward with the deal that ensures higher education representation and could transform Tallahassee healthcare.
TMH leadership has for months been locked in a largely behind-the-scenes tug of war with Florida State University over board seats on a new governance board that would run a proposed academic medical center.
But after pushback from commissioners and community leaders to include Florida A&M University and Tallahassee State College, the parties have been forced to re-evaluate the agreement that was months in the making.
TMH has been refusing to hand over more board seats to the academic institutions, saying the hospital needs to remain in community hands rather than being subject to political influence. Demirel, however, scolded the hospital for dragging its feet, saying “when control matters more than care, it’s our community that pays the price.”
Local government watchdog reporter Elena Barrera can be reached at ebarrera@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @elenabarreraaa.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: TMH-FSU hospital cell phone poll enflames debate