As he marks five years as CEO of Broward Health, Shane Strum reflects on how a major transformation of the nearly 90‑year‑old public health system laid the groundwork for Better Together, a collaboration with Memorial Healthcare System to expand access to care across Broward County.
Since taking the helm in 2021, Strum has led efforts to modernize facilities, expand physician training, strengthen Broward Health’s finances, and invest in technology, all while responding to rapid population growth and rising demand for services. In 2024, he also began serving as interim CEO of Memorial,, helping shape Better Together, which focuses on collaboration to improve access and patient outcomes. Florida Daily spoke with Strum about what has changed and why collaboration is central to Broward County’s healthcare future.
Q1: When you stepped into the CEO role in 2021, what were the biggest priorities for Broward Health, and how have they evolved?
Strum: When I joined Broward Health in 2021, the priorities were clear: stabilize and modernize a large public health system so we could better serve a growing community. We launched a system‑wide effort to strengthen operations and finances, expand services, and invest in people.
Since then, we’ve expanded emergency services, opened new medical office buildings, implemented the Epic electronic health record across our hospitals and clinics, and significantly grown graduate medical education to help train Florida’s future physician workforce. Our financial turnaround has enabled us to reinvest in patient care, technology, and infrastructure while earning A+ credit ratings from major agencies. All of that has strengthened Broward Health’s ability to fulfill its mission of caring for patients regardless of insurance status or ability to pay and positioned us for a new phase focused on regional collaboration.
Q2: What have been the most important investments in innovation and technology?
Strum: Innovation for us starts with asking how we improve outcomes and experiences for patients and families. Clinically, Broward Health became the first hospital in Florida to adopt the Genesis Robotic Magnetic Navigation System for complex cardiac procedures, helping us treat more patients with greater precision. We’ve implemented Epic and launched MyChart so patients have easier access to their health information and care teams, and invested in specialty care and research partnerships, including focused ultrasound for Alzheimer’s disease and nationally recognized stroke and heart attack programs. These investments change how we practice medicine and how people experience our health system.
Q3: Broward Health has put a lot of emphasis on bringing care into neighborhoods. What does that look like for patients and families?
Strum: People’s health is shaped by what happens in their daily lives, not just when they’re in the hospital. That’s why community‑based care is a core priority. Through our Stay Healthy Together mobile health unit and other outreach, we deliver primary care, preventive screenings, vaccinations, and health education directly into neighborhoods that historically lacked easy access to care.
We partner with cities, schools, faith‑based organizations, and nonprofits to connect families with prenatal care, maternal health support, and programs that address food insecurity and other social factors that influence health. Whether it’s a family at a community event or a senior receiving services that help them stay independent at home, the goal is simple: make it easier and more convenient for residents to stay healthy and connected to care where they live.
Q4: Better Together has attracted a lot of attention. How did it come about, and what problems is it trying to solve?
Strum: Better Together grew out of years of collaboration between Broward Health and Memorial Healthcare System. In my roles at both systems, I saw how much duplication exists in healthcare and how much opportunity there is when public systems work together instead of competing.
Rather than pursuing a merger, we chose to remain independent while collaborating where it makes a real difference. Better Together focuses on expanding primary and maternal care into neighborhoods with the greatest need, supported by mobile outreach, a call center and partnerships that address food insecurity and other community health priorities.
We’re connecting thousands of women with prenatal care, coordinating mobile units in underserved areas, and aligning hospitals and community partners around shared goals. It’s a different way of thinking about public healthcare — recognizing that many challenges are too complex for any one institution to solve alone.
Q5: Looking ahead, what do you see as the next chapter for Broward Health and for Better Together?
Strum: Broward County is growing rapidly, and we have to grow with it. For Broward Health, that means continued investment in medical office buildings, graduate medical education, freestanding emergency departments, and new care models that expand access and support the communities we serve.
For Better Together, the next chapter is deepening collaboration — coordinating more specialty care, expanding community‑based services, and developing regional responses to physician shortages, rising costs, and population growth. If we get this right, Broward County can be a model for how independent public health systems work together, not to do more alone, but to achieve more together.
