Nicklaus Children’s will expand pediatric services at Broward Health hospitals

Broward Health and Nicklaus Children’s Hospital have agreed to jointly provide healthcare to children in Broward County, the hospital boards announced.

Through this collaboration, Nicklaus Children’s, which is based in Miami-Dade County, will become the dedicated pediatric provider at Broward Health’s Fort Lauderdale and Coral Springs hospitals. Broward Health currently operates Salah Foundation Children’s Hospital as part of Broward Health Medical Center and Broward Health Coral Springs and has neonatal intensive care units at both hospitals.

For Broward Health, the affiliation brings Nicklaus Children’s expertise in neurology, cardiology, oncology and orthopedics and subspecialties to its pediatric patients.

Shane Strum, CEO of Broward Health and interim CEO of Memorial Healthcare System, said he has been working with Nicklaus for about a year to make this happen. He said bringing the Nicklaus specialists will over time triple the pediatric staff at Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, the system’s flagship hospital.

“For some of the high-acuity, very specialized cases, we’ve had to send those kids to Nicklaus or sometimes out of state,” Strum said. “Now they’ll be able to stay close to home.”

Nicklaus has a small presence in Broward County, but this arrangement gives the children’s hospital a much larger platform.

“As South Florida’s only freestanding pediatric hospital serving families for 75 years, Nicklaus Children’s looks forward to providing care to more children and families in Broward through our world-renowned programs and services,” said Matthew Love, president and CEO of Nicklaus Children’s Health System. . “Through our affiliation with Broward Health, we will be able to increase access to high-quality care in the region while keeping children close to home for decades to come.”

Strum said the affiliation will begin in early 2025 and a full transition is expected by the end of the year.

Strum too took over the role of interim CEO of Memorial Healthcare System in September and indicated that the two publicly funded North and South Hospital Districts will collaborate more. The two will jointly operate a new freestanding emergency department in Sunrise for children and adults, scheduled to open in early 2026. However, Memorial owns Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital, a Nicklaus competitor.

On Friday, Strum said he wants to eventually bring Joe DiMaggio and Nicklaus Children’s Hospital together to create Florida Children’s Hospital.

“Imagine the combined forces, the cross-pollination, the credentialing doctors could do so that they could go back and forth. It would actually change the pediatric landscape,” Strum said. “Parents from anywhere could come here for these services instead of leaving the state.”

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