Florida will receive $209.9 million over five years to improve rural health care

Florida will receive $209.9 million over five years to improve health care in rural areas, under a $50 billion federal program. The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration last month formally submitted an application for the money, saying it would focus on increasing access to primary and preventive care in rural areas, bolstering programs to train and recruit health care workers and investing in technology to improve access to specialty care. [Source: WUSF]

Florida Trend Exclusive
Birthing a birthing center

Leaders at Baptist Medical Center in Jacksonville are birthing a new project — an expanded labor and delivery services area to the tune of $25.8 million. The expansion includes new labor and delivery rooms, three operating suites, a four-bed OB triage/emergency room, and an antepartum room for high-risk mothers who need continuous monitoring. Baptist Medical Center is Baptist Health’s flagship hospital and the only Level IV Regional Perinatal Health Care Center in the area. Perinatal centers specialize in assisting high-risk pregnancies. [Source: Florida Trend]

How one Florida program reduced preterm births – and how it could serve as a model for other communities

While Florida’s preterm birth rate in 2023, the most recent year for which there is data, was 10.7%, Hillsborough County tracked slightly below the U.S. average of 10.4% at about 10.2% of the county’s 16,900 births. That difference may seem small, but it represents 85 fewer preterm babies in Hillsborough County, and at the average rate of $71,000 per NICU admission, that’s about $6 million in hospital spending avoided in a single year. [Source: Bridge Detroit]

Why Florida whooping cough cases doubled in 2025 compared to 2024

Florida cases of pertussis — also known as whooping cough — are at a five-year high. The Florida Department of Health reported 1,454 cases in 2025 through Dec. 6, compared to 715 in all of 2024, according to the state’s Reportable Diseases Frequency Report. 369 of those cases were reported in the Greater Tampa Bay region. Pediatricians say vaccine hesitancy is a big reason why, along with older adults who have compromised immune systems and haven’t had a booster shot in a while. [Source: Health News Florida]

Proposal would extend Florida medical pot registrations for up to two years

Florida medical marijuana patients, now required to have a physician certify that they are qualified to remain in the state’s prescription program about every seven months, would have that requirement relaxed to just once every two years under a bill introduced by a Republican lawmaker this week. [Source: Florida Phoenix]

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ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Florida's COVID-19 deaths in 2025 dropped to 2,413 months after passing 100,000 milestone [WPBF]
Florida ended 2025 with 2,413 residents dying from COVID-19 after the state passed the 100,000 fatality milestone several months earlier. The Florida Department of Health issued its final 2025 weekly report on Dec. 26 with data involving deaths, cases and vaccines. Nearly six years after the first fatality was reported on March 5, 2020, the death toll has reached 101,459 for a daily average of 48. That represents about one-half of a percent of the state's 23.3 million population.

› How Florida Blue, Cigna disputes with South Florida hospitals affect patients [Miami Herald]
Showdowns in Broward and Palm Beach counties between hospitals and insurers like Florida Blue and Cigna over contract terms are pushing patients out of network for coverage and disrupting care as the new year arrives. Florida Blue and Broward County’s two public health systems, both under the same CEO, still lack a new contract. The months-long impasse between Florida Blue and Broward Health and Memorial Healthcare System has affected as many as 40,000 policyholders.

› Delray doctor survives three near-death experiences, has a message to share about health care [South Florida Sun Sentinel]
By all measures, Dr. Tim Williams should not be alive. Williams, 69, has survived a fall while home alone, a brain bleed, a coma for nine days, and in-bed surgery to drain fluid buildup in his brain — and a major recovery effort. “There’s at least three times I could have easily died,” Williams said. Williams had previously spent his days overseeing the delivery of radiation therapy to patients as the director of The South Florida Proton Therapy Institute at Delray Medical Center.

› HCA Health care emergency rooms lead Jacksonville-area health news [Florida Times-Union]
HCA Florida Healthcare has opened its fourth new freestanding emergency room, open around the clock in the Oakleaf community as the latest extension of its Orange Park hospital’s emergency services. The company also is poised to open its fifth emergency room operating under the umbrella of Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville.

David Denor at the 2022 Florida Southern College Winter Commencement