Lee Health board members and senior leaders are gearing up to hold town hall meetings to answer the public’s questions regarding the system’s exploration of becoming a private nonprofit.

Lee Health is now one of the largest not-for-profit public health systems in the country.

President & Chief Executive Officer Dr. Larry Antonucci said what makes Lee Health unique under its current structure is that although public, Lee Health does not have taxing authority in a state where 28 hospital districts do and so receive sales tax or ad valorem revenue to help support operations.

“We don’t have that advantage. It doesn’t give us significant advantages in being public,” Antonucci said.

The system’s previously state-required Certificate of Need was repealed in 2019, which provided an ease for the expansion of services for most health systems.

“We began looking at how can we best maintain our mission as a safety net organization knowing the landscape was going to change dramatically,” he said of other hospitals coming to the region.

This began an exploration of trying to get the State Legislature to allow Lee Health to work outside of the boundaries of Lee County, which legislature was not going to do, Antonucci said.

“Your only option is to convert to a private not-for-profit. Legislation was passed last year to allow the board to explore conversation for private not-for-profit to meet the needs of our community,” he said.

It’s not a new structure

For the first 50 years of its history, Lee Health operated as a private nonprofit entity. In 1968, Lee Health operated as an independent special healthcare district created by the Florida legislature and governed by an elected Board of Directors.

The conversion from a private nonprofit to a public nonprofit occurred when many hospital districts were being established.

Antonucci said they thought at the time it would be the best way to ensure the public would be served, and a safety net for care could be provided.

“There is a significant amount of the population that is underinsured, or not insured. Legislation wanted to make sure they were taken care of,” Antonucci said.

The law requires Lee Health to bring in an independent third party to do a six-month assessment to determine what is in the best interest now.

“We are about two months away from that report,” he said.

Although the legislation only requires one meeting to be held with the public, Lee Health’s board of directors wanted to hold a town hall in each of the districts.

The Community Town Hall schedule:

• 6 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 4, at Lehigh Acres Municipal Services Improvement District, 601 E. County Lane, Lehigh Acres

• 6 p.m., Friday, Jan. 5, at Quality Life Center, 3210 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Fort Myers

• 6 p.m., Monday, Jan. 8, at Lakes Regional Library, 15290 Bass Rd., Fort Myers

• 6 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 9, at Cape Christian Church Student Center, 2110 Chiquita Blvd., S., Cape Coral

• 6 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 10, at Fort Myers Downtown Library, 2450 First St., Fort Myers

• 6 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 11, at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, 2304 Periwinkle Way, Sanibel

The purpose of the town halls is to explain the process, so the public can ask questions about how it works and how the legislation is laid out.

“There haven’t been any decisions regarding conversions, or any recommendations from administration or the board,” Antonucci said. “We are waiting for the assessment.”

The hospital board, once it receives the assessment, will have 120 days to review it, analyze it and ask any questions before making a decision to either proceed with the process of conversion, or choose not to do anything.

“The community is invited and encouraged to come and ask questions about the process,” he said. “The board has to decide what structure would best serve the people in this community and the health system continues its safety net mission and maintain local control.”

More information can be found at www.leehealth.org/lookingahead.

There is also an option to send questions on the website if someone is unable to attend a town hall meeting and has questions.