2 min read April 2022 — In an interview with Invest:, Ravi Chari, president and CEO of the HCA Healthcare West Florida Division, talked about how HCA is using innovation to provide quality healthcare to the community. Chari discussed partnerships, technological innovations, education programs and a methodology of meeting patients where they are in a new convenience-focused landscape.
What have been some major highlights or transformations from the last year?
For me, the big news for us is that on March 3, 2022, we announced that our more than 450 affiliated sites of care have united under one statewide brand, HCA Florida Healthcare. This brought together 11,000 physicians, 77,000 caregivers, 49 hospitals and over 450 total sites of care under our new name and logo.
We also are investing significantly in our communities by bringing care closer to home. We recently celebrated the opening of our Hospital for Endocrine Surgery, a unique facility dedicated exclusively to endocrine surgical care that is attracting patients from around the state, nation and internationally to travel to Tampa for this specialized care. Right now, we are investing more than $82 million in our hospital in Hudson, HCA Florida Bayonet Point Hospital, where we are building a comprehensive medical rehabilitation center, in addition to new hospital beds. Additionally, we recently announced the construction of a new hospital in Fort Myers. When it opens in 2025, it will be a 275,000-square-foot facility with almost 100 beds. For 2022, we are building two freestanding emergency rooms (in Cape Coral and Central Tampa), which will open by this June.
Among the trends we’re seeing in healthcare today are the shifts of care to the outpatient setting, virtual care and to minimally invasive surgeries. And as more people continue to migrate to Florida, we also continue to see a high demand for high acuity services. We believe that our continued investments will enable our hospitals to address these trends and demand.
Additionally, I am proud that we are the largest provider of mental health beds in the region and are very committed to ensuring we have programs and access to our mental health services, as we see demand increasing here as well. This year, I have the honor of serving as chair for Tampa Bay Thrives, and in that organization, we are working to reduce the stigma around mental health and help people who are looking for assistance.
How have you been impacted by labor shortages and what strategies have you implemented?
A challenge of healthcare is that unique skills are required to be a caregiver in the field. The way in which the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded has created a new supply-demand curve for skilled clinical labor, specifically registered nurses (RNs). The entire healthcare industry has seen massive changes because the emergence of travel and contract nursing as a result of the COVID-19 surges (increased demand for clinical labor) and stress of the job has taken its toll on the workforce, with many people leaving for retirement or for other professions (reduced clinical labor supply). So, we’ve had to be creative in how we provide compassionate care. Necessity is the mother of all invention, so the things we are doing come down to five key areas:
- We have to be more aware of the care our patients need and expect. And, when we understand this, we can more evenly distribute the work required to meet those needs and expectations across multiple skillsets. This is why we’re leaning on team-based care models to help alleviate some of the workload for RNs.
- We have to continue building strong academic partnerships with all the local schools to sustain and build the talent pipeline.
- We are casting the net farther across the nation to attract talent to Florida.
- We are leaning on “boomerang” campaigns to reengage with people who left and are ready to return to HCA Florida Healthcare.
- We are also looking to grow our own talent with our local Galen College of Nursing schools because we know that, together, we can contribute to developing more future nurses. Another critical part of the clinical labor pool is physicians. This is one reason why HCA Florida Healthcare is the largest sponsor of graduate medical education in the state.
What are some actions that can be taken to make healthcare more affordable?
In healthcare, we know firsthand that coordinated efforts mean better outcomes for our patients. Having an integrated healthcare network like ours has proven to affect these outcomes positively, as well as the overall patient experience and the costs of treatment.
In fact, we recently announced the acquisition of MD Now, an urgent care company with over 59 locations in the state. That partnership will help us expand the number of urgent care sites we can offer patients, making it a more coordinated, convenient and cost-effective experience for patients in a way that meets them on their terms.
And speaking of coordination, one of the best things we’ve done is leverage our information technology systems, and a great example of this is SPOT, or Sepsis Prediction and Optimization Therapy. Sepsis is a life-threatening infection. SPOT allows us to detect sepsis even before it occurs and it runs on every in-patient, every day, measuring thresholds and sending alerts when those thresholds are passed. SPOT allows us to intervene early, save lives and avoid costly treatment.
What is your vision of the future of the industry and healthcare?
Patients are looking for convenience and care on their terms. Digital connectivity with the healthcare system is part of what they want, and is something we’ve done for both our mobile and desktop interface at HCA Healthcare. As an organization, we also look at innovation around our nurse-call center and our patient transfer center so that we can more effectively direct patients to where they need to go. With technology constantly evolving, I see opportunities for us to leverage it in ways that will allow our surgeries, for example, to be less invasive and have better outcomes. Overall, across healthcare, we are leaning more than ever on technology to accelerate and improve patient outcomes.
What partnerships do you have with companies in the region?
We are proud of the great partnership we have with Tampa Bay Thrives because it represents our focus in the community and the need for input from major healthcare players in the area. Having such a unique mix of healthcare leaders engaged with this nonprofit makes us better by checking our competitive nature at the door and coming up with collaborative solutions that benefit the community, rather than our individual systems.
Aside from this, I recently chaired the 2021 Tampa Bay Heart Walk, which is an American Heart Association annual event. It’s an unfortunate truth that heart disease is the major killer in our society, and it is still not well recognized that more women die of heart-related disease than any other illness. So heart disease and women’s heart health are areas we have been trying to address with the American Heart Association through the Heart Walk and other efforts.
We are also proud to partner with the American Diabetes Association and Feeding Tampa Bay.
What is your outlook for your organization and the Tampa Bay region?
My outlook is very positive, especially with the in-migration currently happening in the Tampa Bay area, and I am proud of our Tampa Bay leaders who want to do the right thing for the area. Within HCA Florida Healthcare, I am excited about our commitment to improving the health of the region, and I am excited about our investments in technology and new process to improve the care we deliver. I am also thrilled that we are expanding education opportunities in the region so that we can make sure we have the right talent at the bedside. At the end of the day, we are in the people business, and we know that our patient experience will never exceed our employee engagement. So our first priority is to have excellent people taking care of the people in the communities we are privileged to serve.
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