Two Suncoast hospitals are 'best places to work'

David Gulliver - posted 5 pm Tuesday, Sept. 29

Two Sarasota-area hospitals are among the 100 best places to work in healthcare, according to a leading industry journal.

Lakewood Ranch Medical Center and Doctors Hospital of Sarasota both made the list produced by Modern Healthcare magazine. Their rankings will be announced Oct. 26.

Lakewood Ranch is one of 34 employers to make the list both this year and in last year's inaugural edition, when it ranked 57th.

"I look at it with an immense amount of pride. It validates what we know is going on," said Jim Wilson, Lakewood Ranch's chief executive officer, who joined the company last year.

Doctors Hospital officials had no immediate comment on the hospital's achievement.

This year, 317 companies submitted applications for the competition, 80 more than last year's inaugural edition. Eleven of the top 100 are from Florida.

The competition is open to all healthcare businesses, including healthcare providers, suppliers and insurers, with 25 or more employees. There is no fee to participate.

Companies complete a survey on practices, benefits and demographics, and provide phone numbers and email addresses of employees. The magazine's partner, a Pennsylvania consultant firm, then contacts a sample of employees with questions about leadership, organizational culture, job satisfaction, working environment, management, training, pay and benefits.

Lakewood Ranch's Wilson said making the list is satisfying but also reminds him of how much there is yet to be done.

"You never really cross the finish line," he said. "It provides as much energy for innovation as it does recognition."