The 2026 attempt is starting earlier in the legislative calendar and is more public than the 2025 effort.<\/p>\n
Strum pushed for the proposed law at an Oct. 27 meeting of the Broward Legislative Delegation. The location: the Memorial Regional Hospital conference center in Hollywood. Large screens at the front of the room, above the heads of lawmakers, touted the \u201cbetter together\u201d<\/a> partnership between the two systems that began<\/a> almost nine months ago.<\/p>\n Multiple commissioners from the hospital systems\u2019 governing boards were at the legislative delegation meeting, along with hospital staff and supportive elected officials who aren\u2019t members of the Legislature. After the 2025 legislation was filed in Tallahassee, some commissioners said they weren\u2019t familiar with it.<\/p>\n \u201cLast year we filed [the bill] relatively late. [The] legislative session was tied up with a lot of other issues,\u201d Cassel said in an interview. \u201cNow we have a lot of support under us from the community, from Broward County, that I\u2019m going to be able to bring to Tallahassee to say, \u2018This is something the county needs. This is good for Broward. This is good for the community. And it\u2019s good for the residents.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Hospital districts<\/p>\n What now operates as Broward Health is the brand name for the North Broward Hospital District, the government district that operates hospitals and other health services in the two-thirds of the county north of Griffin Road. It\u2019s an evolution from what was called Broward General Hospital when it opened in Fort Lauderdale in 1938<\/a>.<\/p>\n Memorial Healthcare System is the brand name for the South Broward Hospital District, which provides services in the southern third of the county.<\/p>\n Each district is overseen by separate boards of commissioners appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.<\/p>\n Strum was DeSantis\u2019\u00a0chief of staff during the first half of the governor\u2019s first term. He was hired as president and CEO of the North Broward Hospital District in February 2021. In September 2024, the boards of both districts approved his appointment as interim CEO<\/a> of the South Broward district.<\/p>\n Earlier in his career, Strum was senior vice president at the South Broward district.<\/p>\n Collaborate or merge?<\/p>\n During his presentation to lawmakers, and later in an interview, Strum emphasized enhanced collaboration, not the politically fraught concept of a merger. He said the \u201cmerger\u201d is \u201cnot accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis legislation is not a merger,\u201d he said, adding the districts \u201cwill continue to operate in the sunshine and transparency, and with legislative oversight.\u201d<\/p>\n Some viewed the 2025 effort as a way to effect a merger.<\/a> Strum said the word \u201cmerger\u201d was used against the proposals by opponents.<\/p>\n \u201cWe went up [to Tallahassee in 2025] thinking we\u2019d be OK. We had all the support in the world, but let\u2019s just say our competitors were unhappy with the two systems working together, and they were able to frame the conversation. They just said, \u2018Hey, that\u2019s a merger. It\u2019s a merger,\u2019\u201d Strum said.<\/p>\n Some leaders in Broward believe the two systems should merge.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we should move toward that. I think we should work toward a merger and one hospital district. It could be very economical at a time when we\u2019re so concerned about the cost of health care,\u201d said County Commissioner Nan Rich, a former Florida Senate Democratic leader. \u201cI\u2019m not saying overnight. I\u2019m saying begin with a strong collaboration and move toward a merger of the districts.\u201d<\/p>\n Miami-Dade County has one hospital system and Palm Beach County has one government health care district. Rich and Tanner said Broward\u2019s two-district setup \u2014 created seven decades ago \u2014 is a\u00a0historical anachronism.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re only one of the 67 counties that has split its health care. There\u2019s a lot of reasons why it was split in the \u201950s, but today there is no reason to have it split. And so it\u2019s just more efficient, particularly as people look to address costs,\u201d Tanner said.<\/p>\n He said he wasn\u2019t advocating for a merger, and echoed Strum\u2019s statements that the legislation being sought now wouldn\u2019t bring one about.<\/p>\n Merging is a \u201ccomplicated question. Maybe in five years, 10 years down the road that becomes obvious,\u201d Tanner said. \u201cBut today I think you just have to be able to deliver health care as best you can and as efficiently as you can just to provide the best benefit to the taxpayers of Broward County. You\u2019ve got to take it one step at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n Harrison, one of the longest-tenured commissioners on the South Broward Hospital District Board, where he is a former chair, said the county is a far different place than it was when the separate districts were established.<\/p>\n And, he said, it\u2019s different than it was when he was growing up in the 1970s in southwest Broward and a trip north was a major excursion; physical distance was a much greater obstacle than today.<\/p>\n He said merging the districts is \u201ca political nonstarter right now\u201d and raising the question ends up overwhelming the discussion. \u201cPeople think that there\u2019s something going on, nefarious.\u201d<\/p>\n Getting an idea through the Legislature and signed into law often takes more than one legislative session.<\/p>\n The biggest unknown is what HCA will do. The company\u2019s media representatives didn\u2019t respond to questions about why the company opposed the legislation in 2025 and whether it would oppose the 2026 version.<\/p>\n HCA fields a formidable lobbying force in Tallahassee.<\/p>\n During the 2025 session, the legislative lobbying database showed 23 people from seven different lobbying and law firms registered to represent the company.<\/p>\n Filings show Heather Turnbull, managing partner of Rubin, Turnbull & Associates, one of the state\u2019s most influential lobbying firms, lobbied against the hospital district proposal in 2025, along with Oak Strategies.<\/p>\n Though they can\u2019t make political contributions like the private sector\u2019s HCA, Broward\u2019s two hospital districts had significant lobbying firepower.<\/p>\n Powerhouse lobbyist Ron Book\u2019s firm was among those trying to advance the legislation, along with lobbyists from the GrayRobinson law firm and from Continental Strategy, Ericks Consultants and Floridian Partners.<\/p>\n For the 2025 session, 15 people registered as lobbyists for one or both of the hospital districts.<\/p>\n The legislation<\/p>\n The 2026 legislation hasn\u2019t been filed yet.<\/p>\n House Bill 1253<\/a> and Senate Bill 1518<\/a>, which didn\u2019t advance in 2025, said the hospital districts could \u201cjointly enter into, participate in, establish, and control any venture, partnership, corporation, business entity, organization, joint operating network, service line, facility, or any other joint relationship or collaboration, public or private, for profit or not for profit, anywhere within the boundaries of either or all such special districts, if the governing bodies of such districts, in their discretion, determine that it is consistent with, and in furtherance of, the purposes and best interests of such districts.\u201d<\/p>\n The legislation also said the districts \u201cmay exercise such powers, regardless of the competitive consequences thereof, including any actions that may be deemed anticompetitive within the meaning of state and federal antitrust laws.\u201d<\/p>\n The Legislature\u2019s blessing would provide immunity for \u201cstate action,<\/a>\u201d permitting acts normally seen as anticompetitive \u2014 but are allowed when they are deemed state policy and supervised by the state.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/TFL-L-delegation-hosptial-districts-01.jpg\")
The Broward Legislative Delegation meets at the Memorial Regional Hospital Conference Center in Hollywood on Oct. 27, 2025, under a slide touting cooperation between the Broward Health system, which operates in the northern part of the county, and the Memorial Healthcare System, which operates in the south part of the county. (Anthony Man\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
\nLegislative maneuvering<\/p>\n