Lee Health officials explain benefits of status conversion
Held on Aug. 1 at the Sundial Beach Resort & Spa on Sanibel, the SanCap Chamber’s business luncheon kicked off with a ribbon-cutting to celebrate the resort’s official first day of business since Hurricane Ian.
Along with keynote speakers Lee Health President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Larry Antonucci and Vice President of Government Relations Michael Nachef, chamber leaders and Sundial and MHK Architecture representatives hailed the significance of the island’s largest accommodations complex to reopen to date.
“I can’t wait for everyone to have this day,” Sundial General Manager Becky Miller said of the current daycation operations model, adding that rooms will begin to open for occupancy in November beginning with west-side units. “This is our Day 1.”
Antonucci and Nachef took the podium to explain the “why and why now” reasoning behind Lee Health’s current process of returning to a community-centered nonprofit structure from today’s public special district structure, which has been in effect since 1960. At the time, the Florida Legislature sanctioned the transition from a private not-for-profit to a non-taxing district committed to offering “safety net” health care to all, with or without Medicaid, Medicare, or commercial health insurance.
Now under the oversee of the Lee County Board of County Commissioners, Lee Health has been working for the past six months evaluating the conversion back to a private community-based system.
“The role of leadership … is identify icebergs before you hit them,” Antonucci said. “You don’t wait until you hit the iceberg and are taking on water before you make structural changes to meet the future challenges you anticipate you’re going to face.”
He cited some of the challenges as cost increases; service disrupters in the marketplace, such as CVS, Amazon and private equity companies; rise in consumerism; keeping pace with technology; shifts in value-based care; and physician and nurse shortages.
The conversion would also allow Lee Health to expand beyond Lee County’s borders to better serve the 20% of current patients coming from outside of the county’s boundaries.
“For why conversion makes sense now … we believe in Lee Health and Lee County, and the strong leadership and economic growth in the region is what makes this possible,” Nachef said. “If the economy here were not strong, this would not be a viable option.”
The speakers pointed out Lee Health is a local economic driver and the top employer in the county with 30,000-plus related jobs.
“We are among one of the largest public health systems in the country … and we are clearly the largest public health system that does not levy a tax on its citizens,” Antonucci said.
They emphasized nothing would change as far as patient care or Lee Health’s safety-net mission and non-taxing status. The group has spent the past 100 days working with the county commission and educating the public about conversion. Currently, it is working to post a final document — due by Aug. 27 — for voting in October. In the meantime, the public can visit leehealth.org/lookingahead to learn more and ask questions about the conversion.
One question posed by attendees had to do with continuing Lee Health’s on-island office.
“Yes, we plan on growing with Sanibel. We’re in fact, exploring other options on Sanibel, too, so yes, we’re committed to the Sanibel community,” Nachef, who also serves on the chamber’s board, said.
“Michael and Larry clearly demonstrated today their promises of transparency with salient, straight-forward discourse regarding a complicated issue,” chamber President and Chief Executive Officer John Lai said. “Their commitment to the island and greater county community is apparent. We thank them for sharing Lee Health’s vision.”
The luncheon was sponsored by MHK Architecture.