Growing public interest prompted the Feb. 4 meeting of the local hospital district board to take place at the Tennessee Williams Theater.
More than 100 people attended the meeting to encourage the board to consider alternative operators of Lower Keys Medical Center when the current agreement with Community Health Services ends in 2029.
Four of the seven unpaid members of the Lower Florida Keys Hospital District board, who are appointed by the governor, were receptive to hearing from other companies that may be interested in running the Lower Keys’ only public hospital. In response to a request from an advisory committee of community members, the board voted 4-3 to allow the committee to hire an independent legal representative to help the committee solicit proposals for a new hospital operator.
The board may also soon hire a health care consultant to help the community determine its priorities and draft a new operating agreement with whichever company takes over in 2029.
The committee celebrated an additional bit of news, when the hospital board’s longtime lawyer Lew Fishman shared news of a discussion he had with Roberto Sanchez, a Miami businessman who has the power to veto any potential new hospital operator.
How does one man have so much control?
A troubling reality of the Lower Keys’ hospital situation came to light at the Jan. 7 meeting of the Lower Florida Keys Hospital District board. The hospital’s current lease agreement with the Tennessee-based Community Health Services (CHS) expires in 2029.
There’s another, private entity involved in that lease agreement.
The Lower Florida Keys Hospital District is a state-chartered special taxing district created in 1967 that exists solely to provide and maintain a hospital for the people in the district, which stretches from Key West to the Seven Mile Bridge.
The hospital district board is authorized to levy, and in the past has levied, a special tax within the district to fund the public hospital. That tax has not been levied since 1999, when the hospital district board decided to lease the hospital on Stock Island to a private, for-profit health care company.
The current 30-year lease between CHS and the Lower Florida Keys Hospital District includes more than the public hospital on College Road. The agreement also includes dePoo Hospital on Kennedy Drive, which is owned by Miami businessman Roberto Sanchez through his company,
Kennedy Drive Investments. And Kennedy Drive Investments Ltd. is inextricably linked with Lower Keys Medical Center and Community Health Systems.
Attorney Fishman initially told the board and the community committee last month that Sanchez had expressed an interest in renewing the lease with CHS rather than considering another operator. But that changed at the Feb. 4 meeting, when Fishman said he had spoken with Sanchez.
“They have absolutely no interest in selling Kennedy Drive Investments, but they did say they’re not locked into CHS and are open to working with anyone,” Fishman said, to cheers from the audience.
The district board also voted to invite any hospital operators to give a preliminary introduction and proposal about operating Lower Keys Medical Center at the March meeting.
“Ultimately, we’re grateful for the board’s approval of the committee’s request for independent counsel, which is a practical solution to assist the board, which has th a fiduciary obligation to our community’s public health,” said Spencer Krenke, who launched a community group to advocate for a new hospital operator called Our Hospital Key West (ohkw.org). “We are however surprised that while Dr. Lesley Thompson, Erica Sterling, Mary Chambers and Mary Spottswood voted in favor of their own committee’s request, Stephen Hammond, James Muir and chairwoman Kathy Ovide voted against it.
“We’re also pleased that as of the March 4 meeting there will be equal time given to any hospital operator to present their interest for consideration to be a successor operator when the current agreement ends in April 2029.”
Visit ohkw.org to view an unedited video of the Feb. 4 meeting in the coming days.
For a full history of the hospital lease, visit keysweekly.com and search for “hospital.”
