As a surgeon, I am trained to focus on results. When I stand at the bedside of a child in need while their parents anxiously ask me for help, there is only one question that matters. “How can we get this child healthy and bring him home in the safest way possible?” The same question should guide Florida lawmakers as they consider House Bill 1047 and Senate Bill 1122.
For patients in Broward County, especially children, pregnant women, and families facing complex medical needs, the answer is clear. The Better Together partnership between our two public safety net hospital systems is not about consolidation or anti-competition. It’s about access, equity, and ensuring that no patient is left behind because of insurance status or treatment that is complex, resource-intensive, or long-term.
As a pediatric surgeon at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital/Memorial Healthcare System, it has given me a deep sense of duty to care for children in need, regardless of insurance coverage. It’s medicine, not politics. But outdated geographic charters and regulatory barriers prevent doctors like me from practicing where our patients need us most. Currently, I am limited to providing services to only one area of the county, even when children in other areas urgently need special care. That doesn’t make sense for patients, but it makes even less sense in a county as large, diverse, and rapidly growing as Broward.
Better Together’s work in Broward County could change that. That’s why we need this law. House Bill 1047 and Senate Bill 1122 enable collaboration to expand access to quality care where patients need it most. Nothing more.
Despite the misinformation surrounding this effort, the facts are clear. This law does not consolidate hospital systems. We won’t raise taxes. Insurance premiums will not increase. It won’t cost taxpayers an extra dollar. The goal is to remove outdated barriers and enable the two public hospitals and their physicians, nurses, and clinical staff to work together to expand access to quality health care throughout Broward County.
These measures will expand access to health care across a full range of services, from behavioral health to maternity care. They open the door to healthier families – healthier women and healthier babies. Any claim to the contrary is simply false.
The legislation would allow the two public hospital systems to work together rather than compete, allowing doctors to move across counties, share expertise and expand critical services such as cancer care, cardiology and transplant care. These are not optional services. They save lives, but are increasingly abandoned because they are expensive and offer little benefit.
Public hospitals serve as a medical safety net for communities. Every day, we care for patients who have nowhere else to go. These include cancer patients who no longer have specialist services, patients who require long-term heart or kidney treatment, and mothers delivering babies after maternity wards close. This is the reality in Broward County, and it cannot be ignored in political conversations.
Better Together also strengthens our ability to respond in moments of crisis. Broward County is no stranger to hurricanes, mass casualty events, and public health emergencies. At such times, health systems must be agile. Physicians must be able to move quickly to where they are needed most. Artificial barriers to collaboration slow response times and put lives at risk.
The movement against Better Together has been vocal and well-funded, but it has often relied on incomplete or misleading claims. Better Together remains focused on results. We are expanding access to care by opening new access points such as obstetric services and freestanding urgent care, deploying mobile units to underserved areas, and investing in behavioral and maternal health. This is about meeting real needs rather than engaging in political noise.
As Tallahassee lawmakers evaluate this bill, they have the opportunity to hear directly from doctors, nurses, patients, and families who experience these challenges every day. If passed, this bill will allow Better Together to continue and expand for patients and families who need it most.
Medicine should never be involved in politics. It should be about doing the right thing: preventing disease, responding quickly when needed, and caring for the most vulnerable. It’s time to put patients first and pass legislation that allows public hospitals to do just that.
Dr. Holly Neville is a general and pediatric surgeon. Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Memorial Healthcare System. Director of Pediatric General and Thoracic Surgery at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. He is also the General Surgery Residency Program Director for Memorial Healthcare System.
