Jackson Memorial Hospital is one of the largest hospitals in the country with more than 1,500 beds. Its trauma program is world-renowned, as is its transplant center \u2014 one of the busiest in the U.S.<\/p>\n
Its incoming CEO wants to expand Jackson into new areas of Miami-Dade County and new areas of healthcare services.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur patients and their families are telling us that they want locations closer to where they live and work,\u201d he told WLRN earlier this month during an interview at the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce Economic Summit.<\/p>\n
Jackson will open a new adult emergency department in April. The $300 million facility is only half of its emergency care expansion plans. A pediatric emergency room is due to open next year. It expects to see about 12,000 more emergency patients a year when both are up and running, representing a 10% increase of annual ER visits.<\/p>\n
As Zambrana takes over the CEO role, he is looking to outpatient services delivered in what he called \u201coutposts\u201d for growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou’ll begin to see an expansion in ambulatory sites across and near our current facilities \u2014 south, west and north,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Jackson West Medical Center is the system\u2019s most recent hospital. The $332 million facility opened in Doral in 2021. Money came from a 2013 voter-approved borrowing program.<\/p>\n
Zambrana\u2019s vision to expand Jackson\u2019s outpatient business will require expanding the system\u2019s brand. As the hospital-of-last-resort, most of Jackson\u2019s care is paid through Medicare and Medicaid.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were thought often as the place of tertiary and quaternary care,\u201d Zambrana said, \u201chigh acuity (care), where all other strategies clinically have failed. We want to really extend that and be a place where we can provide any type of healthcare services across the lifespan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zambrana started as a nurse at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami 35 years ago. On June 1, he will become the CEO of the public safety-net hospital with about $3 billion in revenue. It\u2019s also one of the largest employers in Miami-Dade County.<\/p>\n
The health system was down to five days of cash in 2011 when Carlos Migoya took over as CEO. The organization had lost $419 million over the previous three years. Migoya reversed the losses by reducing payment gaps, addressing billing issues and cutting jobs.<\/p>\n
Payer mix \u2014 the proportion of patients utilizing government-funded health coverage such as Medicare and Medicaid, and privately insured patients \u2014 is a key influence on a health system\u2019s finances. About 42% of Jackson patients pay for their health services with something other than Medicare and Medicaid.<\/p>\n
Health care demand has been growing along with costs. The medical care inflation rate in South Florida was 4.7% for the year, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was almost twice the overall inflation rate of 2.6% for the region.<\/p>\n
“\u200aAll of our payers are pushing the entire industry for lower acuity and a lower price point,” he said. “We’re really expanding our portfolio and it is now time to round out our goal of being a fully integrated healthcare delivery network.”<\/p>\n