Interview: Manny Llano, CEO, Fort Lauderdale Behavioral Health Center

Manny Llano

CEO Fort Lauderdale Behavioral Health Center

What have been the biggest developments for Fort Lauderdale Behavioral Health in the last year?

Fort Lauderdale Hospital continues to expand its business lines. Earlier this year, we opened up a First Responder Unit, which allows us to treat professionals who need assistance with mental health or substance abuse issues. This has been very well-received in the community, so we are now expanding to Dade and Palm Beach to o er services to those first responders who need our assistance. We have been able to recruit some first responders as sta , meaning they can relate to the patients on another level, having experienced some of the same situations. We have also expanded our outpatient clinic to allow us to treat more patients. At the same time, we have been increasing our inpatient volume. This year has been very successful for us.

What are some unique opportunities and challenges for the behavioral healthcare sector?

We have seen a lot more growth and opportunities for business. A lot of people, by staying at home, feel isolated. For us, we are able to attract those clients who were already experiencing issues but perhaps COVID exacerbated those. Children not being able to go to school, elderly dependents and job losses have all had massive impacts on the mental health and well-being of people who would otherwise not have experienced distress.

How does the Valor Program impact first responders and the local community as a whole?

This program started by us looking to help first responders. We wanted to create an exclusive unit that would provide them with the tools they need based on that specific specialty group and the experiences relevant to them. The infrastructure is not in place for VA patients so we can also attend to them. Funding is specifically provided by the government for these segments too, which allows us to create programs like the Valor Program.

Florida has one of the highest uninsured populations in the country, posing a challenge for health services.

( ) insured, 40.5% have employer-provided plans, while 14.8% have healthcare provided through Medicaid and 12.1% through Medicare. Roughly 18% of Broward residents are covered by a combination of nongroup or military/VA plans. But the percentage of uninsured Broward County residents has grown since 2016, from 13.5% to the current 14.6%, according to DataUSA.

On average, Broward primary care physicians see 1,376 patients per year and per capita, healthcare spending totals $8,076. Patients enrolled in a private health insurance plan average $4,606 annually; those in Medicaid average $5,175; and those enrolled in Medicare (those over age 65) averaged $12,229, DataUSA added.

The number of practicing physicians has also increased statewide over the past 10 years, by 34.2% as of November 2020, noted Florida Surgeon General Scott Rivkees in the 2020 Florida Physician Workforce Annual Report. Rivkees attributes this expansion to increased training slots and residency positions, “which should help increase care,” he added.

Indeed, education in the medical field is a leading segment countywide. Of the associate’s degrees