SMH ‘remains the only community-owned, not-for-profit hospital in the region,’ report notes
“The past year has been one of monumental growth and service for Sarasota Memorial Health Care System (SMH),” the hospital’s communications and outreach team has reported.
“The hospital recently released its 2024 Community Update, which highlights Sarasota Memorial’s transformative expansion initiatives and new services improving the health of the Suncoast region and patients it serves,” a news release says.
“From opening world-class medical facilities and expanding vital services, to attracting top-notch physicians and clinicians to our fast-growing community, Sarasota Memorial’s accomplishments the past year are wide-ranging,” the release points out.
Among these achievements are placing among U.S. News & World Report’s list of the top hospitals in the country for more than 20 types of care, “ranking among Newsweek’s World’s Best Hospitals, and earning a spot on Forbes’ list of “America’s Best Large Employers,” the release adds. “These independent quality and reputation reviews came amid a period of exponential growth and helped the health system attract nearly 3,600 new staff members in 2023, continuing Sarasota Memorial’s status as the region’s largest employer, with more than 10,000 employees,” the release notes.
“Founded in 1925, SMH was the county’s first modern hospital,” the release points out. It “remains the only community-owned, not-for-profit hospital in the region. Shaped by and for the community it serves, the health system is guided by an unpaid, publicly-elected Sarasota County Public Hospital Board, which provides strategic oversight, transparency and accountability,” the release continues. “The governing board helps ensure that SMH operates in the best interest of the community, maintaining high standards of fiscal responsibility and patient service as it pursues advances in health care and technological innovation,” the release adds.
“As stewards of public resources, we are dedicated to ensuring that Sarasota Memorial Health Care System continues to deliver excellent care and maintain complete trust and confidence in the community we serve,” Sarasota County Public Hospital Board Chair Sarah Lodge said in the release. “In looking back at the progress over the past year, we are proud to support an organization that prioritizes patient safety and quality above all else,” she added.
In its 2024 Community Update, Sarasota Memorial spotlights several initiatives that meet “essential needs in the fast-growing region,” the release says. Among them are the following, it notes:
- “The opening of the state-of-the-art Cornell Behavioral Health Pavilion in 2023, providing a complete continuum of mental health care as Sarasota County’s only hospital that serves behavioral health patients of all ages.”
- The groundbreaking for the new Milman-Kover Cancer Pavilion, which will be a seven-story outpatient cancer center. Scheduled to open in 2025, it will be the third in a series of “premier cancer care facilities that make up SMH’s expanding Brian D. Jellison Institute.
- “Ongoing construction of the Kolschowsky Research and Education Institute.” When it opens in 2025, “ the release continues, the Institute will offer physician training, clinical education programs and a medical library. “It also will house a new, state-of-the-art simulation center to provide safe, hands-on training for caregivers,” the release points out.
Further, the hospital is expanding services and facilities that are serving areas of the county “seeing vast population growth,” the release notes. “For example, SMH is doubling the capacity of its Venice campus and plans to develop new medical facilities in North Port and Wellen Park to provide residents with convenient access to hospital services, outpatient care, and physician offices. It is also expanding emergency care in the northern part of the county,” the release adds.
“We are proud to celebrate the growth and success of this valued public institution and the important steps it continues to take to ensure our community has access to comprehensive, top-quality care,” Sarasota Memorial President and CEO David Verinder said in the release.
By the numbers
“Sarasota Memorial Health Care System is a regional health system offering Southwest Florida’s greatest breadth and depth of care, with two hospital campuses,” a freestanding ER, a skilled nursing and rehabilitation center, a cancer institute, a behavioral health pavilion and a regional network of outpatient/urgent care centers and physician practices, the release points out.
In 2023, the community-owned health system recorded the following statistics:
- 1.7 million patient visits system-wide.
- 172,400 visits at its three Emergency Care Centers.
- 31,300 surgeries performed.
- 4,600 babies delivered.
- $284 million in mission services costs, which included charity care, clinics and other community programs; bad debt; around-the-clock specialty care for trauma, emergency and hospitalized patients; and Medicaid/Medicare losses.
- Approximately 10,000 employees, making it the region’s largest employer.
- 2,500 physicians and advanced care providers.
- 700 volunteers.
- $1.6 billion in operating expenses, including a $900-million payroll, “helping support the local workforce, businesses and community.”
- $196.7 million in facilities and equipment upgrades to improve care.
The complete 2024 Community Update is available here: https://issuu.com/smhcs/docs/2024_smh_community_update?fr=sZmE3MDY1NzMzNjU