Florida Hospital Flagler announced today that JoAnne King will be the hospital’s vice president of ancillary services, overseeing several departments that include the hospital’s cancer ward, laboratory and imaging in addition to its cardiopulmonary, cardiovascular and rehabilitation departments. King’s appointment is effective Feb. 6.
King is currently the administrative director for Florida Hospital Hospice Care, the area’s only faith-based, non-profit hospice organization accredited by the Joint Commission, a state regulatory agency. Under her leadership, the hospital’s HospiceCare team expanded services into Orange and Osceola counties in the past year, making Florida Hospital Flagler the only hospital in the Florida Hospital network to have extended hospice services across county lines–and enabling the hospital to increase its revenue. The service had already been expanded to Volusia previously. It spread to the two other counties last June.
“We have spent over $100,000 in attempting to obtain certificates of need in other counties so that we can expand our hospice program,” David Ottati, Florida Hospital Flagler’s CEO, said in an interview last spring. Florida Hospital Flagler also has a home health service that covers the east side of Volusia and the entirety of Flagler county.
The expansion into hospice care in Orange and Osceola added some 15 new jobs to the hospital’s payroll, but those jobs are based in Orlando, not Flagler County. Nevertheless, it’s part of the hospital’s strategy to keep increasing revenue–or offsetting revenue losses from Medicaid and, potentially, Medicare payments.
“For long-term purposes, in order to be able to be cost-efficient in health care, you have to have economies of scale, and that’s really my sell,” Ottati said. “More and more hospice divisions are going regional across Florida or across the state in order to get economies of scale.”
King will keep overseeing HospiceCare, but her current position as administrative director will be filled by someone else.
“This is an important position and I am delighted to work with Joanne in her new capacity,” Ottati said.
King, an Ormond Beach resident, grew up in Volusia County and graduated from Seabreeze High School in Daytona Beach. She has nearly 20 years of hospice experience and is a Certified Advanced Hospice Administrator (CAHA). She earned a Master Degree in social work from Florida State University, as well as a Master of Business Administration from Regis University. King serves on the Board of Directors for Florida Hospices and Palliative Care Organization (FHPC) and was on the original steering committee for the FHPC’s Hospice Veteran’s Partnership of Florida, an outreach program with the VA health systems and others health care providers serving veterans. She is also a member of the National Hospices and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) and served on the Ethics Committee.
