In a move that expands Cleveland Clinic’s sphere of influence to southwest Florida, the Florida arm of the famed hospital system has formed a strategic alliance with Lee Health, a six-hospital system in Fort Myers, that could lead to affiliations in specialty care and more.
The agreement to “share best practices” includes both clinical and operational initiatives, and “establishes a framework for how the two health systems will work together as they assess opportunities” to enhance existing projects “or establish news ones,” according to a joint statement issued last week.
“As the two organizations move forward, they will lay groundwork for potential further areas of collaboration in the future,” the statement read.
Fort Myers-based Lee Health is one of the country’s largest public hospital systems, with nearly 14,000 employees and 95 percent of the hospital beds in Lee County, population 770,000. It comprises four acute-care hospitals and two specialty hospitals, including a children’s hospital, plus physician practices and home healthcare. There’s also a trauma center, cancer center, perinatal intensive care center and neonatal intensive care center.
The system is widely recognized for its quality, with its four acute care hospitals earning “A” grades from Leapfrog, the national hospital safety organization.
The agreement marks Cleveland Clinic Florida’s return to southwest Florida after it sold a hospital in Naples in 2006.
As the division solidified its base in Broward County in 2017, with major expansion of its Weston hospital, it began courting hospitals in southeast Florida, nearer to its base of operations. After expanding outpatient operations in Broward and Palm Beach counties, Cleveland Clinic continued north to partner with hospitals in Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties two years ago.
The Martin Health partnership and a similar one with Indian River Medical Center were finalized in January 2019.
Twenty years earlier, in 1999, Cleveland Clinic started building a hospital in Naples in Collier County, just south of Lee County.
Over time, the Florida division grew frustrated with the state blocking its plan to open a heart center at the Naples hospital, and in 2006, it sold that hospital and bought Tenet out of the hospital in Weston.
During the partnership process with Indian River, Cleveland Clinic officials made clear the system expected to add more hospitals in Florida. Until now, speculation on expansion has centered on Palm Beach County.
Still, Cleveland Clinic’s plans in Fort Myers are described in only general terms at present.
“This initial announcement does not have a lot of detail yet, but I think you’ll see more information come out in the near future about what opportunities may exist,” said Scott Samples, Cleveland Clinic Florida’s spokesman.