In this video, Naples real‑estate expert Renee Hahn gives a candid overview of the healthcare landscape in Naples, Florida. She explains that the market is dominated by two major health systems—Naples Community Hospital (NCH), a not‑for‑profit, and Physicians Regional, a for‑profit—each with distinct strengths and challenges. Hahn highlights how the high cost of living drives staffing pressures, leading to a reliance on international nurses, and how many top physicians are shifting to concierge medicine, which can limit access for those without the means to pay out‑of‑pocket. She notes that while Naples boasts strong specialty care in dermatology, orthopedics, plastic surgery, and nearby cancer centers, patients often face long waitlists for services like OB‑GYN. Regional alternatives such as Lee Health, the Cleveland Clinic, and the Mayo Clinic are presented as higher‑rated options. Hahn also mentions a current dispute between NCH and Blue Cross Blue Shield, and concludes with a call for healthcare professionals to consider moving to Naples, emphasizing both the challenges and the opportunities for delivering exceptional care in the area.
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Hello, Renee Han, your Naples real estate expert. This video is part of a series I call Naples Revealed, where we explore all the various aspects of Naples, Florida living. Be sure to subscribe below to keep up to date on new videos to help familiarize yourself with the Naples area. And of course, reach out anytime if I can be of assistance to you on your journey to explore Naples living. Hmm, the truth about healthcare in Naples, Florida. Do I want to tackle this one? Yep, we're going to. Anyways, you all know Naples, Florida is often touted as the tropical paradise. It's a popular destination for retirees and vacationers as well as full-time residents, so you can imagine how important the availability availability of good healthcare is. There are many, many, many things that I love about Naples. I could go on and on and on. It's a long list. The healthcare, I'm just going to tell you outright, is not one of my favorite. Now, I'm not going to be a Debbie Downer all the way through, so we'll talk about a few things. There are two major health, um, uh, entities, if you will, in the area when it comes to healthcare. One is NCH, Naples Community Naples Community Hospital. The other is Physicians Regional. Naples Community Hospital is a not-for-profit, Physicians Regional is a for-profit. I'm not going to go into the details, um, if you don't know what kind of differences that can drive out in those two models, that's for a whole separate discussion. But just know we have two major entities in the Naples area. One is for-profit, one is not-for-profit, and that comes with it all kinds of challenges and unique aspects that we won't dive into here. Suffice it to say, depending on what you're looking to have done or go see, you'll find one person may pick one over the other as a favorite. I can tell you our experiences, and because of some unique things within my family, my larger family, not my necessarily my immediate, we are fortunately or unfortunately big consumers of the healthcare system. We've had more positive experiences with NCH and less, less negatives than Physicians Regional. But again, um, you know, you'll find they're good at different things. So with that said, what I think some of our challenges are— it is a high cost of living area, period. That puts stress on many different types of industries and professions. Teachers, right? We've managed to have amazing schools, but it is no secret that my friends that are teachers in the north will tell you they make far more money than teachers down here, and it is more expensive here than where some of my friends that teach are. The same thing holds true to healthcare. You've got some unique challenges with the cost of living here. You've got, um, there is a high, uh, portion of the healthcare profession that come in from outside of the country, particularly with the nursing, whether they're coming in from the Caribbean, um, because they have a hard time attracting local nurses to the area. So that again has its own set of challenges that I'm not going to dive into. I'm just stating it as a fact, if you will, and a consideration in what our healthcare looks like. You will find in the Naples area a big proportion of the really good doctors, if they haven't already, are on their way to concierge services. They, with the, I'll call it a crisis, so the crisis going on with health insurance in the US has made it tougher and tougher for doctors to continue to accept, um, some of the things that come with carrying and covering insurance. And so a good number of the really popular doctors have gone concierge, which isn't always an option for everyone. If you're not familiar with concierge services, it's more of like a membership-based where insurance doesn't cover any of the costs. You are directly paying for your healthcare. Now, you might do out-of-network claims with your insurance. I can't speak to what everybody does, But it means that you are going to write checks, you're going to pay, make payments every time you've got healthcare needs. Now some of them will be almost like a retainer, if you will, fee structure. The structures can vary, but the point is you're not going through your private insurance for those services. When that happens, it makes good healthcare for those that can't afford those concierge services a little tougher to come by. I will tell you that generally speaking, Lee Health out of the Fort Myers area tends to be on a lot of the rating systems rated higher than Naples healthcare facilities. Again, do your homework, look into that, don't take my word for it. The cool thing is we do have some other renowned things within the area. There are some great specialty— we have some of the best, um, you know, dermatologists, orthopedic doctors, um, plastic surgeons. I haven't gone to any, but we have really good plastic surgeons. Maybe I will someday, and I'll appreciate that. Um, you know, we struggle. There's, there's other doctors, whether it's OB-GYN, where there are waiting lists all over the place. Again, we have good doctors, but they're hard to get into, and they oftentimes fill up very quickly, making again the availability of healthcare tougher for people who are coming in new to the area. I'm still on some waiting lists to get into an OB-GYN, so I go to my primary physician for that. So availability can be tough. There are good ones, but those good ones get gobbled up really, really quick. Again, Concierge is another model, but we're really close to places like Cleveland Clinic across the, across the alley here that has some phenomenal doctors and specialties. We've got some great cancer centers in the nearby area. We're not that, that far from up in Jacksonville, um, you know, another big Mayo Clinic specialty area with great world-class doctors. So it's not— I don't want to paint a picture of it being bleak and that you can't get good healthcare here, but if I were to stack up all the things I love about Naples and then stack up all the, the areas where I feel like we run a little short, healthcare is one of them. You have to think about the fact that we have such a seasonal swing of, um, residents that oftentimes they keep their primary physicians where they are. They keep the big doctors appointments for up there, and they'll just do more, you know, clinic-type stuff here. So again, I— it's not to say we have bad healthcare, but you have to be thoughtful. There are certain things, if they happen to me, that I probably would ask my loved ones to take me somewhere else for healthcare. On a day-to-day basis, it's okay, but just okay, and healthcare is really important. So there you have it. I've been really truthful with you. I would say that is our area. So a plug, a self- selfish plug. If you are thinking about the area and you have a healthcare background, we would love you and we need you. Um, it is such a beautiful place to live, and I think if we can get through some of the challenges of healthcare, the most recent one being that NCH seems to be in a standoff with Blue Cross Blue Shield, that doesn't help. But if we can get through some of those hurdles, um, this could be a great place to offer exceptional healthcare. So That's all I have for you on the healthcare front. Do your homework, look into the specialties, do your research on whether the types of doctors that you need for your health conditions are in Naples or at least nearby, um, and make your decisions accordingly. Again, don't go off my experience and my— solely my experience and my commentary about it, but I'm here to tell you the truth about Naples, and I want you to know it's one of the areas healthcare care being one of the areas that I think we have the most opportunity. So enough said. Join me next time when we tackle another aspect of Naples living. Again, this is Renee Hahn, your Naples real estate expert, and you can find me at yournaplesexpert.com for your real estate needs. Thanks and have a fantastic day.
