Becker's Hospital Review

32 POPULATION HEALTH 32 CEO/STRATEGY HCA, Cleveland Clinic battle intensifies for Florida market share By Alia Paavola A looming battle is heating up for market share on the Atlantic Coast of Florida between two healthcare heavyweights: Cleveland Clinic, an interna- tionally renowned nonprofit, and Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare, one of the nation's largest for-profit hospital operators, according to the TCPalm. Cleveland Clinic's flagship Florida facility in Weston already competes against 11 HCA hospitals in South Florida, and the rivalry be- tween the two healthcare giants is expected to intensify when Cleveland Clinic assumes control of two more Florida hospitals. Although the transactions still need regulato- ry approval, Cleveland Clinic signed formal agreements in early October to take over Stuart, Fla.-based Martin Health System and Vero Beach, Fla-based Indian River Medical Center. If approved, the transaction would in- tensify Cleveland Clinic's competition against HCA, which owns Port St. Lucie, Fla.-based St. Lucie Medical Center and Port Pierce, Fla.-based Lawnwood Regional Medical Cen- ter and Heart Institute, two full-service hos- pitals on the Atlantic Coast in Florida, known as the Treasure Coast area. e location is attractive for major healthcare providers be- cause the population is relatively affluent and has many senior citizens. Cleveland Clinic has pledged to invest $750 million into its two newly integrated facilities over the next decade — setting up a battle with HCA that will likely improve patient care in the region, according to several ex- perts, including Steve Ullmann, PhD, chair of the Department of Health Sector Manage- ment and Policy at the University of Miami Business School. "e HCA hospitals tend to try to maintain their competitive abilities in these differ- ent marketplaces. HCA has the money to do that if they find a need to," Dr. Ullman told TCPalm. "When you have competitive pressures in terms of quality in one institu- tion, it'll put pressure on another institution to enhance their quality as well. For the Trea- sure Coast, this is probably all good." Several experts, including Sean Snaith, PhD, and director of Orlando-based University of Florida Institute for Economic Competitive- ness, said Cleveland Clinic is a formidable competitor for HCA, because it can bring cut- ting-edge research and treatment to patients in the area. However, the sheer size of HCA — which owns 49 hospitals in Florida alone — gives it the ability to compete with Cleveland Clinic "ey will all strive to improve. It's the nature of competition," Allen Jones, a retired finan- cial adviser for Indian River Medical Center, told TCPalm. "In my opinion, they will fight to maintain market share by concentrating on improving the most profitable lines of business in their individual local hospitals. I expect an attempt to compete on emergency care to try to drain away market share from Cleveland Clinic." Beyond the Florida market, competition be- tween HCA and Cleveland Clinic expands as far as London, where HCA owns seven hospi- tals, and Cleveland Clinic anticipates opening a hospital in 2021. n HCA merges 2 Florida hospitals By Ayla Ellison N ashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare merged Tampa (Fla.) Community Hospital with Memorial Hospital of Tampa, according to the Tampa Bay Business Journal. With the merger complete, Tampa Community Hospital began operating as a satellite branch of Memorial Hos- pital Nov. 9, providing services focused on behavioral healthcare and substance abuse rehabilitation. "We believe the expansion of these services at Tampa Community will help both hospitals better serve the community," an HCA spokesperson wrote in an email to the Tampa Bay Times in September. "We will work dili- gently to help ensure continuity of care for our patients and a smooth transition." Tampa Community Hospital will also continue to op- erate a full-service emergency room, according to the Tampa Bay Business Journal. n Flu cost employers $21B in 2017-18 season By Mackenzie Bean I nfluenza cost employers more than $21 billion in lost productivity during the 2017-18 flu season, according to an estimate from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The Chicago-based outplacement and executive coach- ing firm estimated the flu sickened 25 million workers last season. Based on this estimate, analysts calculated aver- age wages lost due to missing four eight-hour shifts using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They estimated flu caused $21.39 billion in losses for U.S. employers. "It was a particularly bad flu season last year," Andrew Chal- lenger, vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, told Newsday. "We don't have too much of an indication of what this flu season is going to look like right now, but em- ployers should take heed." The flu caused more than 900,000 hospitalizations and 80,000 deaths during the 2017-18 flu season, according to the CDC. If the U.S. sees similar flu activity this season, em- ployers' losses from sick days could be even higher due to wage increases, according to Mr. Challenger. n

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