UF Health and Select Medical are collaborating on long-term plans for UF Health Shands Rehab Hospital. We have begun an “interim management services” agreement with Select Medical to share information and explore how to evolve services and operations. As the collaboration evolves, the plan is for Select Medical and UF Health Shands to eventually share ownership of the rehabilitation hospital, while Select Medical will oversee operations and manage staff and programs.
“Our employees deliver outstanding quality rehab care and we know we can take our services to the next level with improved resources and a broader perspective,” said Marina Cecchini, UF Health Shands Rehab Hospital and UF Health Shands Psychiatric Hospital administrator. “We want to build on existing strengths to keep improving patient services, and take advantage of access to research and education.”
Select Medical operates the nationally renowned Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in New Jersey and also collaborates with Baylor Scott & White, the Cleveland Clinic, Cedars-Sinai, Emory Health and other respected centers. Cecchini, UF Health Shands CEO Ed Jimenez and Select Medical leaders hosted town hall meetings with rehab hospital staff in July to discuss the benefits of Select Medical’s highly successful model of rehab care.
The current interim management services agreement is slated to last through 2016 and into early 2017. A detailed, long-term plan will address issues of capacity, private patient rooms and facility challenges, which have been acknowledged as constraints, as we strive to develop services and achieve preeminence in rehabilitation.
Meanwhile, UF Health and Select Medical now co-own Select Specialty Hospital – Gainesville. Select Medical continues to operate the long-term acute-care hospital, which is located on Southwest Archer Road and staffed by Select Medical employees. UF College of Medicine physicians will join the medical staff and assume key clinical oversight roles and our leaders will be involved in developing the facility’s best practices and standards for quality care, patient safety and service.
“We’re excited about the potential this opportunity provides us to go beyond the levels of care and breadth of services we can achieve alone,” Jimenez said. “We have the chance to work with a successful organization to elevate the continuum of rehab and acute-care services available for our patients.”
