Jeffrey Freimark, President and CEO, Miami Jewish Health

May 2026 — In an interview with Invest:, Jeffrey Freimark, president and CEO of Miami Jewish Health, discussed the organization’s expansion across South Florida as it celebrates 85 years of service. “The expectation is shifting toward care that comes to the person, not the other way around,” Freimark said.

What changes over the past year have most impacted your operations, and in what ways?

We have had a lot going on. First of all, Miami Jewish Health is now 85 years old in terms of serving the South Florida community, and 2025 was an ambitious and successful year for us.

In Broward County, we entered a partnership with Broward Health and opened the Broward PACE Program, a new PACE location near the Broward Health corporate offices just off Commercial Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale. PACE, or Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, is designed to coordinate medical care, social services, and transportation so participants can remain independent for as long as possible, while still having a comprehensive support system. We are proud of the partnership; it will cover geography north of Stirling Road, and it has opened successfully.

We also have a 23-acre campus in Pembroke Pines offering affordable senior housing called Douglas Gardens Residences. We currently have more than 600 apartment units on that campus, and we are about to open 400 more in two buildings that will fully build out that campus. We are also relocating our existing Miramar PACE location to this campus in Pembroke Pines. One of the issues seniors face is a lack of nearby services, and having an adult day center with a full medical component and other PACE services on that campus is an important step.

In Miami-Dade County, we announced a new residential project called FiftyTwoNorth to be developed on our main 20-plus acre campus in Miami. It will be a CCRC, or continuing care retirement community offering independent living with access to healthcare services. It will build on what Miami Jewish Health is known for: medical care that includes post-acute rehab, gerontological psychiatric services, Alzheimer’s and dementia services, and therapy.

Overall, it has been a busy and exciting year, and we are focused on growth that expands access and meets seniors where they are.

What role does innovation play in delivering personalized, high-quality care across your network?

Innovation is one of the core strategies in our strategic plan. PACE is a good example. We have been operating PACE for more than 20 years, and it is a federal program designed to keep people out of nursing homes by helping them stay at home with the services they need.

We also pride ourselves on innovative partnerships. The arrangement with Broward Health is a unique structure in which each organization brings its core skills, expanding reach in a way neither partner could do alone.

We are also evolving our footprint. The nursing home space is a very difficult economic model, especially for a nonprofit serving low-income elderly populations. It is heavily Medicaid-driven, and costs often outpace reimbursement. As we expand residential options, we will reduce our footprint in the nursing home space.

Housing is part of our innovation, too. We are expanding affordable housing, like what we have in Broward, and we are working on workforce housing projects in Miami-Dade, Broward, and on the west coast outside of Tampa with partners. Housing affects the community and our ability to secure and retain a workforce.

We are also using more technology in healthcare delivery. People do not want to travel, and traffic is a real issue. Telemedicine and other tools will continue to expand as people want to stay at home. They want convenience and care that can be delivered without unnecessary travel whenever it is clinically appropriate.

With more providers expanding services at home, how do you see the balance shifting between facility-based care and in-home models?

It will continue to shift toward in-home models. We have a Home Health Agency in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, in partnership with Mount Sinai Medical Center, and demand for home-based care will continue to grow.

This is also tied to what we are doing in residential housing and to the relocation of PACE from Miramar to our Douglas Gardens Residences campus in Pembroke Pines. When you can place services closer to where seniors live, you reduce barriers and improve continuity, especially for people managing chronic conditions.

We are active participants in home care growth because that is what people want, to the extent they can get it. The expectation is shifting toward care that comes to the person, not the other way around.

What are some of the most pressing challenges in long-term care and senior health today, and how is your organization responding to these challenges?

The challenges are significant and very real. Workforce is at the top of the list. There is a nationwide shortage of nurses, and it is exacerbated here by housing costs and the overall cost of living in South Florida.

We are looking for efficiencies, including prudent use of artificial intelligence, but we are a hands-on business. It will never replace people at the bedside, and patients and families expect that level of care.

Funding is also a major issue. Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement often do not keep pace with cost increases, and that is one reason nursing homes have closed around the country. Organizations like ours have to find alternative sources of revenue and sustainable operating models.

There are also significant costs associated with litigation pressures in healthcare, which impact the entire system. You see it in advertising and claims, and it ultimately affects the resources providers can put back into care delivery.

We do not take a woe-is-me attitude toward any of this. Challenges come with healthcare, and we try to be as proactive as possible. COVID was a clear reminder that you must be able to pivot quickly, protect residents and employees, and support hospitals and the broader community when the system is under strain.

As the population continues to age, how do you see the role of senior healthcare providers changing over the next decade?

It will continue to evolve toward at-home services. People are going to be more demanding of receiving care at home, and less willing to go into facilities unless they have to.

There will always be a need for nursing homes in certain situations, whether it is post-hospital stays, post-acute rehab, therapy, or cases where someone has no other place to live. At the same time, the demand for stable residential settings connected to services is only going to grow. We hear stories from people waiting for low-income senior housing that are heartbreaking: seniors living in cars or in unsafe environments. That reality underscores why housing and healthcare have to be viewed together.

South Florida will remain a challenging place to operate due to high costs and pressure on residents. Coastal communities are dealing with insurance increases, condominium assessments, and the ripple effects that followed the Champlain Towers South tragedy in Surfside. We also see changing migration patterns, with some people leaving due to insurance and housing-related costs. Organizations like ours will have to keep pivoting to deliver services in the settings people want, while still maintaining the safety net that seniors rely on when higher-acuity care is necessary.