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Volume 16 • Issue 9 • $5.00 March 2020
THE REGION’S MONTHLY NEWSPAPER FOR HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS & PHYSICIANS

Cancer Care in 2020

BY ELIZABETH KOELKER, BS, MHA, FACHE

While 2019 brought many changes to the landscape of
cancer care, 2020 promises even greater disruption to
business as usual.
For cancer administrators and healthcare leaders, two
eternal truths remain, as lifespans and the aging popula-
tion continue to grow:
1. Clinicians are diagnosing more people with cancer
than ever before
2. The cost of caring for cancer patients is higher than
ever before
Marius J. Ged Treating cancer—the number two cause of death in the Elizabeth Koelker Jared Smith
U.S. behind heart disease—is the largest driver of care
costs, amounting to about $150 billion in healthcare spending. Creating a more sus-
Ged Lawyers: tainable, holistically minded model for cancer care is an industry imperative—one Broward Health
which we expect providers to make meaningful strides towards in 2020.
Helping Continued on page 46 Coral Springs:

Providers Growth Brings

Recover Millions Marymount University and Greater Access

of Dollars Owed OpusCare Launch First South to Care

in Property Florida Palliative Care Continuing BY BARBARA R. FALLON

Damage Claims Education Conference Broward Health Coral Springs, a 250-
bed hospital, has been serving the Coral
Springs community for more than 30
BY DANIEL CASCIATO years with a full continuum of care, as
well as a community education center
If your hospital or medical practice with an array of classes. But as commu-
suffered property damage in a hurricane nity needs grow, so too has this hospital.
or other disaster, it can sometimes be Over the past two years Broward
difficult to get money from your insur- Health recognized the growing needs of
ance carrier to pay for those damages. western Broward County. It committed
Some insurance companies will use $65 million to expanding services
excuses not to pay a legitimate insur- offered at Broward Health Coral Springs
ance claim such as blaming the damage with the addition of the hospital’s new
to wear and tear or lack of appropriate patient tower that features all private
maintenance. Or they may dispute the rooms. The tower enabled the expansion
full amount of the damages. As a result, of women’s and children’s hospital serv-
you’re unable to recoup the full amount ices in addition to a Surgery Center,
of your losses. according to Jared Smith, CEO since
Since property and casualty policies 2018.
are often complicated documents with Women’s services has expanded its
highly technical language that can open (l-r) Dr. Hesham El-Rewini, Provost and Senior Vice President, Marymount University; Dr. portfolio of care and offers a full range of
the door for disagreements over Irma Becerra, President, Marymount University; Dr. Michelle Walters-Edwards, Associate diagnostic through specialized therapeu-
whether a particular claim is covered, Dean, School of Health and Professions, Marymount University; Dr. Ismael Roque-Velasco, tic programming, including breast care
Boca Raton, FL-based Ged Lawyers, LLP President and CEO, OpusCare and diagnostic imaging, gynecology and
will fight for organizations to help them maternity (with private birthing suites
get their money. They represent com- BY GABRIELA ROQUE-VELASCO and post-partum family-centered
mercial property owners and residential rooms), gynecology-oncology, uro-gyne-
property owners who have a covered Palliative care provides coordinated care, helping to bridge the gap in the health- cology, and a focus on advanced cardiac
loss—from a fire or a flood, a hurricane care delivery system. Recently, palliative care has become a national topic of conver- and cancer specialties designed to meet
damage, or even a roof leak—and have a sation among healthcare leaders seeking ways to improve the lives of the chronically the needs of the area’s growing female
dispute with the insurance carrier about ill. Dr. Roque-Velasco, President and CEO of OpusCare of Florida and Texas, was one population.
how much the damages are. of the first to implement a palliative care program in South Florida in 2015. One unique technology in the breast
“We had a case where Hurricane Irma "Palliative care will be at the forefront of our healthcare delivery system, and we have care suite of services is designed to ease
did a tremendous amount of damage to to train professionals and create educational programs to raise awareness in our com- women’s fears of diagnostic services.

Continued on page 8 Continued on page 34 Continued on page 16