A study of the health care system in Manatee County under direction of the Manatee Chamber Foundation was completed in late 2008. The research project, which began in March 2008, was a system-wide study of the factors that affect the efficient and effective delivery of health care services within the county. It was undertaken in response to concerns that, as the county’s health-care system has grown more complex and sophisticated over the years, it has failed to provide expected benefits in terms of efficiency, affordability and accessibility.

The study was conducted by The Center for Research in Healthcare Systems and Policy (CRHSP) at University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee, in collaboration with the Institute for Public Policy and Leadership. It was funded by a $267,000 grant from the Manatee Chamber Foundation.

Dr. Neset Hikmet, director of CRHSP and former professor in the USF School of Business, led the research team assisted by Dr. Chris David, Assistant Professor of Information Systems, USF St. Petersburg.  The study found that many of the health care problems in Manatee County are systemic, a consequence of national and state policies and practices over which local policy-makers and service providers have little or no control.  But it also found a number of statistical anamolies in manatee County that impact the health care delivery system.  Those factors made it more difficult for the average Manatee resident to find an employer who provided competitive insurance benefits.  That forced a higher percentage of workers to depend on government or charitable agencies for health care services, which resulted in a higher percentage of uninsured patients seeking care at hospital emergency rooms, especially Manatee Memorial Hospital, the provider of choice for indigent and uninsured patients.

Those factors, in turn helped account for physician shortages in certain specialities, with higher patient loads and lower experience levels among doctors.