Category Archives: Local 1991 Press Center

Leaders of the Jackson Health System and the University of Miami are developing a plan that will dramatically alter their sometimes testy relationship by creating a clear dividing line between UM doctors who work at Jackson and those who work for UM’s own health enterprise.

A top state health official said Tuesday that Gov. Rick Scott’s proposed budget contains changes in Medicaid funding to fix an “unfair, not easily understood” payment system but also may trigger huge reductions for many hospitals, including the Jackson Health System.

A state commission has released a report that could mean huge changes in the government-owned hospitals in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, but it’s unclear how quickly the Legislature will act on the group’s recommendations.

For the second month in a row, Jackson Health System lost $9 million in November — losses that executives blamed on Jackson’s inability to reach agreements with its two biggest partners, the labor unions and the University of Miami

Labor tensions are mounting at the Jackson Health System, with the public hospitals almost two months into the new fiscal year without crucial union contracts.

After months of preparation and years of discussion, Jackson Health System’s executive team has crafted a strategic plan to turn around the financially distressed public hospitals, which have lost more than $400 million over the past three years.

When Overtown resident Myrtle Holmes started going to Jackson Memorial clinic with severe back problems and no insurance, she sometimes had to wait five hours to see a pain specialist. She couldn’t afford to pay, so she became a charity case, the kind that costs the public hospital system $550 million a year.

In May, Holmes, 56, qualified for Medicare because she was disabled. On her next visit to the clinic, she told her pain doctor about her new Medicare coverage. The doctor, a University of Miami faculty member working at the public hospital as part of a decades-long arrangement, then told her something that surprised her: She could now start seeing him in his UM office, rather than the Jackson clinic.

In a move to become more competitive and offer better patient experiences, Jackson Memorial Hospital plans to make private all its rooms on its medical-surgical floors starting early next year, Chief Executive Carlos Migoya announced Wednesday.

Jackson Health System’s troubled insurance plan is belatedly being allowed to market its Medicare Advantage plan to seniors after a stern consent order from state regulators demanding Jackson make its plan profitable by the end of next year or abandon it.