A feature story on Ascension and its impact of the healthcare industry in Florida was published recently at Florida Politics.
“Ascension is many times the only provider willing to set up shop in underserved regions of the state,” the story says. “Take for example the Studer Family Children’s Hospital in Pensacola. As the regional Pediatric Trauma Referral Center, the Children’s Hospital is a 117-bed facility that offers a wide range of services to meet all of a child’s medical needs, from a pediatric emergency room and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to a medical staff of more than 120 board-certified physicians across 29 pediatric specialties. But most important to the region, since its opening in 1969, the Children’s Hospital has provided quality care to children, regardless of their parents’ ability to pay.
Ascension St. Vincent’s and Ascension Sacred Heart provide more than $50 million in charity care annually.
“Access to healthcare is a perennial issue in the legislature with the major consideration being costs to the state budget,” the story says. “… regardless of politics, hurricanes, and a fluid regulatory environment, we should pray this Catholic healthcare system will be around another 100 years providing care and community benefit to northeast Florida and the Panhandle.
