New hospital facility
Baycare has announced its plan to build a new specially designed facility for St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital (SJCH) in Tampa by 2030, as part of a strategic effort to increase the region’s access to high-quality, state-of-the-art pediatric health care, according to a news release.
BayCare is the region’s largest provider of pediatric services and SJCH is the largest-volume pediatric hospital, the release says.
The new facility is part of BayCare’s comprehensive plan to enhance local pediatric expertise and to create a destination hospital for high-acuity pediatric services, research and medical innovation for West Central Florida and beyond.
BayCare also is planning to expand its pediatric graduate medical education programs, including teaching, research and training to fuel continued medical innovation and help to ensure the region continues to attract the best and brightest to practice medicine here, the release says.
Most vaccinated states
The personal-finance website WalletHub released its report on 2023’s States That Vaccinate the Most.
In order to find out which states vaccinate most, WalletHub analyzed the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 16 key metrics, ranging from the share of vaccinated children to the share of people without health insurance to the flu vaccination rate among adults.
Florida ranked 38th overall, with these results (1=best; 25=average):
- Seventh — share of children ages 19 to 35 months old living in poverty with combined 7-vaccine series
- 44th — share of children under 6 years old participating in an immunization information system
- 46th — influenza vaccination rate in children ages 6 months to 17 years
- 47th — share of adults age 60 and older with Zoster vaccination
- 48th — share of adults with tetanus vaccination
- 48th — share of civilian noninstitutionalized population without health insurance coverage
- 48th — share of teenagers ages 13 to 17 with Men ACWY vaccination
- 49th — share of teenagers ages 13 to 17 with up-to-date HPV vaccination
- 50th — flu vaccination coverage rate among adults
For a full report, visit WalletHub.com/edu/states-that-vaccinate-the-most/66237.
Chief medical officer named
HCA Florida Bayonet Point Hospital has named Dr. Neelam Patel as its new chief medical officer (CMO). Dr. Patel has served as a staff physician in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine for Level II and Level III trauma centers across the country. She also is a member of the core faculty for the University of South Florida’s Graduate Medical Education Internal Medicine Program.
The new CMO most recently served as medical director of the Intensive Care Unit and as Pulmonary and Critical Care staff physician at HCA Florida Trinity Hospital.
