If something isn’t broken, don’t fix it — especially not behind closed doors.
That’s the message coming through in a new poll by The Tyson Group gauging public sentiment on a proposed shared services agreement between the North and South Broward Hospital districts.
The survey asked likely Broward County voters whether they approve or disapprove of the health care services currently available in the county. Nearly two-thirds (65%) say they approve, including 30% who strongly approve. Just 22% say they disapprove of Broward’s health services.
When asked whether the North and South Broward Hospital Districts should be allowed to change how they operate “without triggering the legal requirements, transparency, or voter approval normally required for a full merger,” nearly three-quarters of respondents (73%) said no, including 62% who said “definitely no.” Only 16% say the Districts should be allowed.
The polling comes after Sarasota Republican Sen. Joe Gruters and Dania Beach Republican Rep. Hillary Cassel filed bills that would authorize two or more special hospital districts to jointly form, participate in, or control a wide range of collaborative health care ventures — including public or private, for-profit or nonprofit entities — anywhere within their combined boundaries.
Notably, the legislation would explicitly give the Districts and their partners immunity from state action, allowing them to collaborate regardless of anticompetitive effects or potential conflicts with state or federal antitrust laws.
When similar bills were filed last Session, critics warned that it amounted to a backdoor merger that would bypass public scrutiny, regulatory review and possibly a countywide referendum otherwise required under state law. Memorial Healthcare System employees, physicians and community advocates raised alarms about transparency, governance and the potential shifting of financial burdens from North Broward’s struggling Broward Health system onto South Broward taxpayers.
“Once voters understood that the shared services agreement would go into effect without public review or voter approval, it was impossible to generate support. Each message we tested reinforced the negative perception that the shared services agreement was a shady deal designed to circumvent quality control,” the polling memo reads.
Messaging tests in the survey included transparency, lack of a taxpayer vote, financial mismanagement, and consolidation of power — on each front, more than 60% of those polled express concern while no more than 10% are unbothered.
By the end of the poll, just 21% said they supported a shared services agreement, with 63% in opposition, including 47% who say they “strongly oppose” the deal.
The survey was conducted Dec. 8-10. The sample includes 500 likely voters in Broward County and carries a margin of error of 4.38 percentage points.
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Jesse Scheckner of Florida Politics contributed to this report.
