Hospitals’ Workforce Investments Are Paying Off
1/1/2025
This article first appeared as a column in the January issue of South Florida Hospital News
By Mary Mayhew, FHA President and CEO
New beginnings herald promise and optimism. And, a new year, in particular, heralds a commitment to change — to doing things differently and better.
For Florida hospitals, that commitment to doing things better is a year-round endeavor, with hospitals of all sizes continually striving to innovate and transform how they deliver care to provide greater accessibility, better outcomes, and more efficiencies.
Florida hospitals are leading innovations to transform treatment, advance technologies, drive research breakthroughs, and disrupt delivery system models all to improve access to timely care in the most appropriate setting and to improve health and quality of life.
Innovation and transformation are happening in technology, in advanced scientific pursuits, and in robotics. These innovations that were the stuff of science fiction a couple of decades ago, are now here. Florida hospitals are deploying robotic surgical systems, using remote patient monitoring, and creating prototype labs.
But innovation isn’t limited to technology. Innovation is also happening with hospitals repurposing available resources to meet a community need like growing on-site gardens to provide patients and employees with farm-fresh ingredients. And it’s happening with hospitals simply doing things differently from the way they’ve always been done. For example, hospitals are facilitating next-day appointments for patients newly diagnosed with cancer.
Our hospitals’ innovations are as vast and diverse as the state itself.
For example, hospitals are using digital tools like the Arthur App to foster communication for non-verbal patients in hospital settings, enabling more effective communication among patients, their families, clinicians, and caregivers. With better communication comes reduced errors and better outcomes.
Other hospitals are using targeted artificial intelligence during endoscopic ultrasound procedures to better detect pancreatic cancer. Still others are using focused sound energy to destroy cancer tumors in the kidney and liver.
And, Florida soon will be home to the first carbon ion therapy treatment facility not just in the U.S. but in the Western Hemisphere to revolutionize how we treat cancer.
Still more hospitals are going beyond the four walls of their facilities to forge community partnerships and deploy innovative programming to address their communities’ non-medical needs, such as food insecurity, respite care, and access to green spaces.
Innovation is within reach for every hospital. From the largest of academic health systems to the smallest of critical access hospitals, every hospital has the ability and capacity to be innovative. That’s because every hospital in every corner of the state has an expansive vision of what is possible for human flourishing and takes seriously their leadership role to make Florida the preeminent health care leader. Florida hospitals are leading the way to reimagine health care delivery for today and for the future, to drive health care transformation, and to ensure that we have world-class care close to home.
As we start anew in 2025, Florida hospitals will carry over their enduring commitment to embracing new technologies, seeking out new partnerships, and reimagining the care delivery experience to make Florida the best in the nation for health care access and outcomes. Continuous innovation in the relentless pursuit of better care is our watchword, and our resolution for 2025 is to maintain that pursuit and identify even more ways to reject the status quo in order to meet the evolving health and wellness needs and expectations of Floridians, now and in the future.