Proposed Fine bill could lead to sale of Parrish Medical Center in Titusville, other assets

If Florida Rep. Randy Fine gets his way next session, new legislation could lead to the sale of Parrish Medical Center in Titusville and its other facilities to another health care entity ― which could change the health care landscape of North Brevard County.

The chairman of Parrish's board and the hospital's CEO said officials there plan to fight the proposal, while other state legislators representing Brevard have doubts about such a bill and what its ramifications might be.

Fine said his bill is based on his belief that government should not be involved in business.

Parrish is Brevard County's sole public hospital, established by the state of Florida as the North Brevard County Hospital District in 1958 as a single-story building with 28 beds. The hospital now has five stories as part of an $80 million, 371,000-square-foot complex with 210 beds, located on U.S. 1 at the north end of Titusville.

Under Fine's proposed local bill, assets of the North Brevard County Hospital District would be put under the control of the County Commission. The North Brevard County Hospital District board that operates Parrish would be required to seek an independent appraisal of the hospital district's assets, then put the assets up for sale to gauge interest from potential buyers. Proceeds from a possible sale would be transferred to the County Commission for use in county government operations.

As an initial step before that, the current nine-member North Brevard County Hospital District board would be replaced by a five-member board appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Under the current setup, three members of the hospital board are appointed by the Brevard County Commission; three by the Titusville City Council; and an additonal three by the County Commission, subject to confirmation by the City Council.

Fine introduced his proposal during a meeting Wednesday of the seven-member, all-Republican Brevard County delegation to the Florida Legislature, which is the first step to getting a local bill like this one approved. Fine needed the support of a majority of the Brevard delegation to be allowed to formally file his legislation. He got that, through a 5-2 vote on Wednesday.

"In a world in which we have thriving nonprofit hospital chains … why do we need the government to be providing hospital services?" said Fine, who chairs the House Health and Human Services Committee. “This is about shrinking government. This would require them to figure out what it’s worth."

Fine said, under his proposal, if there are no reasonable bids to acquire Parrish, there would be no sale. Even if no interested parties came forward to purchase the hospital, the district's board would still have had a change in composition, and be appointed by the governor, rather than the city and county governments that now choose its members.

Fine added that other hospital districts in the state have willingly opted to convert from being state-owned public hospitals by selling to private health care providers.

Fine's proposal was approved 5-2, with Sen. Debbie Mayfield and Rep. Tyler Sirois opposed. Mayfield and Sirois said they were just seeing the proposal, and wanted to study it further before voting.

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Randy Fine's proposal will "scare people," hospital board chair says

Robert Jordan Jr., chairman of North Brevard County Hospital District board, said he believes there are many negatives about Fine's proposal, which he sees as taking away home rule from North Brevard residents by having the governor ― and not the County Commission and the Titusville City Council ― appoint board members. Additionally, Fine's bill would remove the requirement that the sale of the hospital district's assets must first be approved by voters in the North Brevard Hospital District.

Jordan said the proposal creates uncertainty about the future ownership of the hospital, leading to a negative effect on staff morale, plus increasing the difficulty of recruiting doctors, nurses and other medical staff, which already is a challenge.

Jordan also said he worried about the potential impact of Fine's proposed legislation among residents of North Brevard who use Parrish's services. He said an unfounded rumor that spread about five years ago that Parrish was being sold created a stir on social media.

Jordan said the hospital board has not considered a sale of the hospital since he joined the board in 1998.

Once Fine's proposal is widely known in the community, "it's going to scare people," said Jordan, a business owner who is a former member of the Brevard School Board and the Titusville City Council, and is running as a Republican for Brevard County commissioner in North Brevard District 1 in 2024.

Echoing Jordan's concerns, Parrish President and Chief Executive Officer George Mikitarian issued a prepared statement Thursday opposing Fine's proposal.

"We will not be deterred or distracted from fulfilling our mission as Brevard’s only independent, not-for-profit, public community hospital," Mikitarian said in the statement.

He described Parrish as the county's only "safety-net" hospital, stating that the medical center serves many of the community's most vulnerable citizens and that it is the "lowest-cost provider of health care within the entire region by 20% to 40%."

The statement also says that despite Parrish's "special taxing district status, zero tax dollars have been assessed for more than 28 years."

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Even if Fine's bill passes, hospital leaders like Jordan doubt that there would be much interest in other companies buying Parrish, except at a "fire sale" price, because of the financial problems many hospital companies now face.

For example, Health First Inc., Brevard County's largest health care company, with four hospitals, and the county's largest employer, had reported financial losses during the past year, although it now has returned to profitability.

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And if Parrish is sold, Jordan said he fears the new ownership would result in increased costs for Parrish patients.

Jordan said Parrish officials now plan to meet with state legislators individually to discuss their concerns.

"This, to me, is a crisis that should not have happened," Jordan said. "I don't see anything positive coming of this."

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Health First issued the following statement about the developments at Parrish.

"Health First supports every organization that is dedicated to improving the health and wellness of Brevard County residents," Lance Skelly, Health First's system director for public and media relations, said in the statement. "We only learned of this legislation after the vote, and have not discussed its impact. Nor have we contemplated any scenario where Parrish Medical Center is not an ongoing community partner in health."

Brevard delegation wants more study of proposal

During a 10-minute debate on Fine's proposal at Wednesday's delegation meeting, Mayfield and Sirois said they were not ready to vote on Fine's proposal.

"I just feel unprepared" to vote on it, Sirois said, adding that the bill "may have far-reaching consequences" for local residents.

Mayfield said she felt it was unfair to receive details of a proposed local bill and have to vote on it without adequate time to study the proposal.

But Fine said he wanted the vote to take place at Wednesday's meeting, because this was the only Brevard delegation meeting scheduled before the Florida Legislature convenes on Jan. 9 for its two-month session. He needed the support of a majority of the delegation to have the bill considered in the 2024 Florida Legislature session.

Fine also noted that he submitted his proposed local bill to Sen. Tom Wright, the delegation's chair, before the deadline that Wright established. Fine was not required to submit it to other legislators, who said they did not see it until Wednesday.

Fine added that the measure would be subject to at least five more votes before it potentially would go to the governor for his signature ― by three House of Representatives committees, by the full House of Representatives and by the Florida Senate.

Rep. Thad Altman said he supported Fine's proposal on Wednesday to move the process forward. But Altman added that he wanted to meet with local stakeholders that would be affected by the legislation before deciding whether he would continue to support it if it comes to the House for a vote.

"This bill has a gauntlet to run through if it's going to be considered" on the House floor, Altman said.

Tyler Vazquez is the North Brevard and Brevard County Government Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Vazquez at 321-917-7491 or tvazquez@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @tyler_vazquez

Dave Berman is business editor at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Berman at dberman@floridatoday.com, on X at @bydaveberman and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dave.berman.54

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Randy Fine's proposed bill would put Parrish Medical Center up for sale