Lions hear from official on Lee Health system, pandemic
Michael Nachef, director of government relations for Lee Health, addressed the Sanibel Captiva Lions Club via Zoom during its March meeting.
At 105 years old, Lee Health is a largest employer in Southwest Florida and the largest provider of health care between Tampa and Miami. Unlike many other public hospitals, it receives no funding from taxing authorities. Nachef explained that Lee Health is a “safety net” provider that fully accepts Medicaid and Medicare. Since Medicaid and Medicare only pays a percentage of the charges, it must make up for that from payments from private insurance providers to be able to break even.
He discussed the impact of COVID-19 on the community and the system. In the height of the surge, it was seeing over 350 COVID patients a day. A month ago that had dropped to 50, but recently has risen to 88 per day. Nachef pointed out that Lee Health has conducted over 15,000 in-house tests. Of these, 17.5 percent were positive. He indicated that this is not surprising, because most of the tests were done on symptomatic patients. The system has reported almost 600 deaths. He indicated that Florida is in the middle of the pack in the United States both in cases and deaths. Nachef explained that although revenue had decreased, in part to the drop in elective procedures, and costs were increased because of the intensive care for COVID patients, the system has not had to let any of its 14,000 employees go.
Since Nachef spends a significant amount of time in Tallahassee during the legislative session, he also discussed some of the progress in the legislature and its potential impact on the local health system.
The Sanibel Captiva Lions Club holds regular dinner meetings on the first and third Wednesdays of each month throughout the year. Visiting Lions or other interested people are welcome to attend.
For more information about the Sanibel Captiva Lions Club, contact Membership Chair Steven Schulz at P.O. Box 391, Sanibel, FL 33957, or 239-233-6261, or visit www.sanibelcaptivalionsclub.org.