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Calling Key West home is a privilege, but not for the obvious reasons some might assume. Sure the weather's great, and the food's amazing, but it's our community that makes Key West special. A perfect example of our charitable and generous community spirit is our SPCA.  We've donated millions to build a world-class animal shelter, and yet many of us have to, or choose to, export ourselves to the mainland for acute Hospital care.

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The relationship between Key West Citizens and Lower Keys Medical Center (LKMC), our Publicly Owned Hospital is complicated. Complicating matters further is the existing Hospital Operator / Lessee of our Public Hospital, Community Health Systems (CHS), has divested (sold) 65% of its Hospitals in the last 10 years, and has frequently self-disclosed significant financial risks to its operations.  While CHS's lease with our Publicly owned Hospital ends on April 30th, 2029, CHS expressed a desire to renew their lease in latter 2023. This is when Our Hospital Key West (OHkw) was organized.

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OHkw was founded to advocate for a Best-In-Class Hospital Operator / Lessee, inclusive of a Hospital Group which is financially-stable, well-managed, well-rated, and has the most comprehensive level of care possible for our Key West Community at our Publicly Owned Hospital. Our perspective has always been that assessing what defines "Best-In-Class" Hospital Operator / Lessee requires a quantitative analysis and objective comparison from other Hospital Operators to achieve this goal.

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Our initial philosophy in February 2024 was that the existing Hospital Lessee (CHS) should not be the "presumptive" next Operator / Lessee" when their lease ends on April 30, 2029, or to be granted an early extension which they were seeking in latter 2023, and that a competitive hospital operator process inclusive of other south Florida hospitals is in the best interest of the community.

 

October 2025 - While there was initial resistance from "some" Lower Florida Keys Hospital District Board (HDB) members for a competitive process of other hospital operators, a competitive Request for Proposal (RFP) process is now underway by the Hospital District Board.

 

We at OHkw do however, want local citizen and healthcare personnel input to be part of an RFP for our Public Hospital. Currently,  Mount Sinai and Baptist Health, both Non-Profit hospital operators, as well as the current operator CHS are interested in becoming our next hospital operator.  We consider numerous interested operators and an RFP process a significant win for our community.

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