Visitation Policy Changes

South Florida, like other areas of the country, has experienced serious surges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, creating a high demand for healthcare services and challenges across hospitals. Medical teams cared for a high level of COVID-19 cases coupled with steady patient volumes in other clinical areas, such as cardiac and cancer.

Memorial Healthcare System has been on the forefront of the pandemic, managing up to 738 COVID-19 positive patients at the peak of the latest surge, while also investing $16 million in personal protection supplies, and supplementing its front line with close to 1,000 contract nurses to address the constant needs brought on by the pandemic this past year.

Such level of response had significant impact on Memorial’s finances, yet the Board of Commissioners for the South Broward Hospital District, which oversees all actions for Memorial, voted Wednesday to still move forward with the adoption of the lowest millage rate ever recorded for the district. This latest millage reduction to 0.1144 marks the 11th year in a row that the Board has voted to lower the overall millage rate, resulting in the lowest rate in the history of the South Broward Hospital District. Commissioners supported their decision based on Memorial’s strong financial position and having the ability to provide that reduction to residents in south Broward County.

What does the lowest millage rate represent?

The 0.1144 millage rate represents a 4.59 percent decrease from last year’s rate of 0.1199. The resulting gross tax revenues are estimated to reach $7.7 million. After accounting for early payment discounts and a certain percentage of uncollectible taxes, the anticipated tax payments this year of $7.6 million will provide the District enough revenue to cover its governmental obligations, which include paying Broward County’s Medicaid Match program and community redevelopment agencies in several municipalities in south Broward County, as well as tax collector commissions and property appraiser fees.

The newly adopted millage rate will leave no net tax revenue to fund uncompensated care, the District will use operating income to cover all uncompensated care costs for the entire Memorial Healthcare System, including its six hospitals and its eight Memorial Primary Care clinics. In fiscal year 2022 uncompensated care is projected to exceed $967 million.

Memorial’s Minimum Wage Increase

On a separate and unanimous vote, the Board of Commissioners also approved an increase in the Memorial Minimum Wage, from $13 an hour to $15 an hour – an investment of over $8 million in Memorial’s workforce. This is the second minimum wage increase in the last six months.

This historic reduction of this millage rate coupled with the increase in minimum wage also comes at a time when Memorial Healthcare System continues to offer a comprehensive array of services, such as cardiac and stroke care, Level 1 trauma services, maternity, kidney transplant and many others. Memorial’s quality and safety has been recognized nationally by Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit organization that collects and transparently reports hospital performance. Memorial Cardiac and Vascular Institute continues to receive outstanding ratings from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, placing Memorial in the top 1% of U.S. cardiovascular centers for 2017. Memorial also remains one of only a handful of public hospitals in the nation to achieve AA, Aa3 financial ratings by Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s, respectively.

Memorial Healthcare System (MHS) is expanding its Memorial Primary Care Long Haulers Clinic to treat community members who are suffering from COVID-19 long-term symptoms. The clinic, which opened in May 2021, originally treated only patients within the Memorial Primary Care group, but had set a goal of expanding care to the entire community this summer.

As COVID-19 case numbers soar, there is an increasing need to treat long-haulers – those individuals who are experiencing long-term symptoms, also known as Post Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC). Since Memorial’s long hauler clinic opened in May, 115 patients have been treated and this number is expected to climb exponentially.

“We are seeing people in our community suffering, and a Memorial multidisciplinary team has come together to make sure these lasting side effects are addressed, so our patients are able to resume life in a post-pandemic era,” says Melida Akiti, vice president of Memorial’s Ambulatory Program and Community Services. “As a healthcare system, we are continuously finding ways to invest resources to help impact the lives of those in our community.”

A study from the University of Washington published in February found that 32.7% of COVID-19 outpatients developed long-haul symptoms and 31.3% of hospitalized patients became long haulers. Symptoms frequently persist among patients who are relatively young and were never hospitalized. Symptoms include, but are not limited to:

• Shortness of breath
• PTSD
• Blood clots
• Headaches
• Brain fog
• Heart issues

“We know that symptoms are not always uncovered through diagnostic testing or imaging, and some people are suffering and feeling unheard,” says Jennifer Goldman, DO, board certified family physician and chief of Memorial Primary Care. “Our goal is to create a patient-centric process that is guided by our primary care team and offers access to the specialty groups, tied together with a patient care navigator, to ensure their cases are moving forward in hopes of a positive outcome and return to normalcy.”

Memorial’s multidisciplinary team of medical experts overseeing its Primary Care Long Haulers Clinic includes specialists in the following areas:

• Behavioral Health Services
• Hematology
• Infectious Disease
• Integrative Medicine
• Memorial Cardiac and Vascular Institute
• Memorial Neuroscience Institute
• Memorial Primary Care
• Pulmonology

Community members with lasting effects from COVID-19 are encouraged to participate in a screening process by calling 954-276-4340. If eligible for care, they can then make an appointment to be seen at the clinic located at Memorial Primary Care’s Silver Lakes at 17786 SW 2nd Street, Pembroke Pines, FL 33029.

Depending on patients’ individual insurance plans, treatment may or may not be covered. Broward County residents who are underinsured may qualify to be covered by a grant from Broward County.

Memorial Healthcare System is strongly encouraging its employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19, and is providing incentives to motivate the approximately 39% of its workforce that has to date not done so.

The Hollywood-based provider, which operates six hospitals and numerous care facilities in South Florida, has set a deadline of October 1, 2021 for current employees and new hires to get one of the three, widely-available vaccines. While it stops short of terminating those who refuse the Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson product, those employees will be required to abide by additional safety precautions that govern masking and meeting attendance to protect fellow caregivers from possible exposure to COVID-19’s highly contagious Delta variant.

“With this mandate, we are joining leading healthcare organizations in the U.S., including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), American Medical Association, American Nursing Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, and more than 1,500 hospitals that support mandatory vaccination,” said Memorial Healthcare System President and CEO Aurelio M. Fernandez, III, FACHE. “It’s the only way to overcome COVID-19 and resume a safe and normal way of life.”

In an effort to ensure 100% participation, Memorial will award a $150 recognition bonus to employees that are fully vaccinated by October 1. Additionally, each staffer is eligible to receive another $100 if the team they are part of is 85% vaccinated by the deadline. Those with medical or religious reasons may be exempt from vaccination, but would still have to comply with the stricter requirements for the unvaccinated that include wearing a mask at all times on Memorial property, virtual meeting attendance, and strict restriction from eating in indoor, public spaces at healthcare facilities.

The vaccination mandate comes amid the latest surge of COVID cases at Memorial hospitals, with close to 700 patients, and statistics that show nearly all those in COVID units nationwide are unvaccinated. “This fourth and most dangerous COVID-19 surge was entirely preventable and, looking ahead, we can halt this pandemic if everyone in our communities gets vaccinated,” said Dr. Marc Napp, chief medical officer for Memorial Healthcare System.

In correspondence to employees explaining the vaccination mandate, Memorial mentions that more than 4.5 billion doses have been administered worldwide after extensive testing in clinical trials. All three of the vaccine products have proven to be effective at preventing coronavirus-associated illness, hospitalization, and death. While there have been a limited number of “breakthrough” infections among the fully-vaccinated, those individuals usually experience significantly milder cases and avoid hospitalization. “If you have not yet been vaccinated, I urge you to do it right away for your own well-being, that of your loved ones, and our patients,” said Fernandez.