Flagler Health+, UF Health Chiefs Brief St. Johns Chamber on Merger

When Flagler Health+ and UF Health announced their “definitive” agreement to combine in May, it raised a lot of questions about the future of healthcare in St. Johns County. At a St. Johns Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Breakfast earlier this month, the leaders of the two health systems provided some answers.

David Nelson, senior vice president for health affairs at the University of Florida and president of UF Health, and Carlton DeVooght, president and CEO of Flagler Health+, offered a vision of what the merger will mean for the community.

“UF Health is excited to partner with Flagler Health+ and St. Johns County,” Nelson said.

Nelson told the audience of more than 150 people – one of the largest crowds ever for the breakfast series – that with UF Health’s core mission of education and research as a university-based hospital system, the partnership with Flagler Health+ will benefit the community as it grows.

“There are a lot of synergies that will come from a significant UF Health presence that is building in Northeast Florida,” he said. “Our goal is to be the leading healthcare organization in the Southeast.”

Acknowledging that the merger has raised concerns about access to care and services, Nelson said UF Heath is committed to playing a positive role in St. Johns County.

“We’re very interested in the community and hopefully we’ll earn your trust as we move forward,” he said.

Speaking from the Flagler Health+ perspective, DeVooght said the idea to find a “like-minded” partner for the local healthcare system came just three months after he took over the reins as president and CEO. He said the decision to pursue a partnership with another system was based on the county’s rapid growth and to be prepared for the future.

“It is more important to maintain our commitment to the community we serve than cut services to maintain our independence,” he said. “We needed to grow to meet the needs of the community. We needed to have a partner that had greater scale.”

DeVooght said discussion with UF Health revealed similarities in the outlook and philosophy both systems hold regarding healthcare.

“There’s a shared culture and you cannot provide the best quality care if you don’t have the best staff,” he said. “From the top down, we see that shared culture with UF Health.”

Nelson said the merger offers the opportunity for the combined system to practice “population health,” which he defined as improving the overall health of the region’s population. And that includes working with local doctors and medical professionals across the county.

“The bottom line is we anticipate partnering with all the local doctors who want to partner,” he said.

Nelson said UF Health’s plans for Northeast Florida include investments throughout the region.

“We will invest not only in the St. Augustine main campus (of Flagler Health+),” he said. That includes plans for “neighborhood hospitals” in a variety of locations with one planned for Palm Coast in Flagler County.