Experts Share Their Thoughts on Health Care in Central Florida

March 30, 2005 — About 150 students, faculty and staff members, alumni and local community members gathered to listen to a panel of 10 experts discuss the state of health care in Central Florida during a recent event sponsored by the UCF Health Services Administration Alumni Club.

The panelists included regional leaders in health-care delivery, policy, insurance, law and philanthropy. They shared their opinions during an evening symposium, held March 23 in the UCF Student Union, to help stimulate a dialog about health care among the participants.

Seated at front-row tables facing the audience, the panelists responded to questions on topics such as treating the uninsured, health-care expenditures, Medicaid reform, medical malpractice and the nursing shortage. The audience, which included many students and professionals, listened intently as the panelists described the challenges facing the region — and likely the nation.

“Florida is now the bell-weather state for health care,” said Michael Lowe, an Orlando health law attorney and partner with Ruden McClosky.

As one of the fastest growing states in the nation, Florida is facing a crisis in its ability to deliver health care to its residents, particularly Medicaid patients and those without health insurance.

“Nearly one in four residents in Orange County lacks health insurance,” said Richard Irwin, president and CEO of Health Central and a founding member of Health Alliance, an organization that raised $45 million to establish a health clinic to treat the underinsured population in west Orange County.

Without health insurance, many people turn to hospital emergency rooms for treatment. “This is one of the biggest issues facing our community,” said Sherrie Sitarik, executive vice president at Orlando Regional Healthcare. “This really takes thinking outside the box.”

Panelist Becky Cherney, president and CEO of the Florida Health Care Coalition, also encouraged the audience to be “free thinkers.” “Thirty percent of the costs associated with health care are waste,” Cherney said. The way to deal with this is to use information technology to gather evidence and then “push for the right thing,” she explained.

Matt Davies, CEO of UnitedHealthcare’s Orlando office, also commented on the value of information technology in addressing health-care issues. He suggested that current technology be used to create an electronic feedback loop to help physicians learn and implement the latest standards in patient care.

Several panelists shared their concern over the region’s loss of subspecialist physicians. Many subspecialists, such as neurosurgeons, are leaving the state because of legal issues related to medical malpractice reform and the high cost of medical malpractice insurance.

“Physicians don’t want to put themselves at risk,” said Dr. Armando Rego, a physician who practices medicine in Orlando.

Patricia Maddox, president and CEO of the Winter Park Health Foundation, discussed the vital role of philanthropy in health care. Philanthropic organizations serve as an “agent of change” by supporting health care initiatives, said Maddox. “We have to be very strategic in our thinking.”

Anne Peach, COO of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, part of the Orlando Regional Healthcare system, discussed the nursing shortage. She identified it as both a national and an international shortage and "a very complex issue." Women today have many more employment options and fewer are entering nursing, Peach explained.

She added that there is also a shortage of nursing faculty members to educate new nurses. To address this issue, Peach said Orlando Regional Healthcare is partnering with UCF to prepare clinical nurse leaders through a new program to begin this fall.

The final discussion focused on a recent recommendation to add a second trauma center in Orlando. Sitarik said the readiness costs for such a facility run about $11 million a year. “It’s an extremely expensive operation,” she stated. “It doesn’t make sense to duplicate a trauma center, particularly when it’s already so difficult to get physician subspecialists.”

The symposium concluded with a long round of applause by the audience, followed by further discussions among the participants.

“This was a fantastic inaugural event for our HSA Alumni Club,” said Pam Kirby, executive associate dean in the College of Health and Public Affairs. “The questions asked of the panel participants, their responses and the ensuing discussions were so informative. We all felt that we had had the privilege of tapping into some of the best minds on health-care topics.”