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Profiles Veterans, Physicians
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pages 16-32
Marijuana page 43

Volume 14 • Issue 9 • $5.00 March 2018
THE REGIONʼS MONTHLY NEWSPAPER FOR HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS & PHYSICIANS

REAL ESTATE

Baptist Plans to Rebuild

Fishermen’s Community Hospital

BY DANIEL CASCIATO

Five months after Hurricane Irma severely
damaged Fishermen’s Community Hospital in
Marathon, acquired last summer by Baptist
Health South Florida, plans are officially under-
way to rebuild.
Dr. Franck Rahaghi Matt Gracey
“We committed to the Middle Keys back on
July 1 when we acquired Fishermen’s, well
Scleroderma before the hurricane hit,” says Rick Freeburg, Danna-Gracey:
Chief Executive Officer of both Fishermen’s
Community Hospital and Mariners Hospital.
Foundation: “Baptist Health is here to stay. We’re still com- Providing
mitted to providing high-quality healthcare to
Education, the Middle Keys community.” Premier Medical
Construction of the $40 million facility is Rick Freeburg
Support, anticipated to begin during the first half of 2019, Malpractice
Continued on page 38
Research Advice to South

VITAS and Centric Consulting Florida Providers
BY LOIS THOMSON
Create Award-winning Mobile
"It just so happens that was one of the
few things I knew," laughed Dr. Franck BY DANIEL CASCIATO
Rahaghi, recalling an incident that Solution to Improve Patient Care
occurred while he was in medical school One of the biggest medical malpractice
at the University of California San changes South Florida healthcare
Francisco. One of the professors showed a BY VANESSA ORR providers need to be mindful of this year
patient in class and said the person had is last year’s decision by the Florida
Raynaud's phenomenon in the fingers, In January, VITAS Healthcare, the nation’s lead- Supreme Court to strike down malprac-
and other manifestations, and asked if ing provider of end-of-life care, won a 2018 tice damage caps. In June 2017, the high
anyone knew what it was. "I was so happy Process Excellence Network (PEX) award for its court ruled that the law limiting pain-
I made a diagnosis of a rare disease." mobile solution to improve the patient experi- and-suffering damages in medical mal-
That rare disease was scleroderma, an ence. And while Patrick Hale, CIO, EVP, is cer- practice cases is unconstitutional.
autoimmune disease whose symptoms tainly happy with the recognition, he’s even more “This was an important event for med-
often include sensitivity to cold in the proud that the company’s foray into the mobile ical malpractice insurance in Florida
extremities, thickening of the skin, short- environment has made patients’ and clinicians’ because markets are already changing,”
ness of breath, difficulty in swallowing, lives easier. says Matt Gracey, CEO and co-founder
stiffness and pain in the joints, and dam- “Providing the most efficient and best care for of Danna-Gracey, the largest independ-
age to internal organs. Dr. Rahaghi's our patients is our mission and passion, and the ent medical malpractice insurance
knowledge of the disease has had an mobile app helps us do that,” he said. “It allows agency in the state of Florida. Danna-
impact on both his career and his service our clinicians to spend time engaged with patients Gracey offers physicians professional lia-
to others. instead of on technology, and that improves the Patrick Hale bility coverage, workers compensation
He became a pulmonary specialist and quality of experience at bedside.” insurance, a robust cyber and regulatory
went to the Cleveland Clinic in Florida to VITAS’ mobile solution, which they developed in partnership with Centric Con - defense coverage program, EPLI (em -
start a pulmonary hypertension clinic. "It sulting, won in PEX’s best technology-enabled process improvement project category. ployee practices liability insurance) cov-
erage, as well as disability, life, and
Continued on page 13 Continued on page 14 Continued on page 33