A highly touted partnership between Broward Health and Florida Atlantic University to collaborate for clinical training and research has ended abruptly, as has the hands-on experience medical students were getting at Broward County hospitals.
Only two years into the 30-year partnership, both the university and the health system say their collaboration fell apart because of proposed changes to the original agreement. The effect is that as many as 200 medical and nursing students are scrambling to find clinical experience at other local hospitals.
On Thursday, FAU President Adam Hasner informed his trustees that the university’s medical and nursing students will no longer receive clinical education at the Broward Health or Memorial Healthcare System, the public health districts that are now both under the leadership of the same CEO, Shane Strum.
These two public health systems combined represent 11 hospitals in Broward County, more than any other company that operates health facilities in the county.
FAU’s president said the university has been scrambling to secure other opportunities for its students who need experience through direct patient care.
“Dean Lewis Nelson and his team at the College of Medicine, and I participated in a meeting yesterday with hundreds of medical students to assure them they are our highest priority, and that we are dedicated to preserving their medical education without disruption,” Hasner wrote in his letter to the trustees. “To honor that commitment to our students, we have been able to locate alternative rotations for our students at our health care partners in the region.”
Many hospitals in South Florida offer limited hands-on learning opportunites for future doctors; FAU, which is based in Boca Raton but has campuses in both Palm Beach and Broward counties, looks around the entire region to place its medical students. It is competing for those learning positions with other South Florida universities with medical schools.
In early 2023, FAU entered a 30-year partnership agreement with Broward Health, providing its health sciences students with access to physicians and clinical facilities within its public health system. The partnership, intended to include joint research and fundraising opportunities, was announced and highly touted by Strum, president and CEO of Broward Health, during his State of the System address that year. Strum positioned the collaboration as a way to improve patient care for the region.
“This collaboration makes us part of a vital network in Broward County that connects us with a partner that will enable us to care for our community,” Strum said in his announcement at the time.
On Thursday, Broward Health spokeswoman Jennifer Smith said Broward Health did not want to end the relationship.
“Broward Health received notice this morning that FAU intended to sever the contract. Broward Health has no intention of walking away from this agreement; we are simply looking for FAU to be an equal partner and live up to their contractual obligations to support clinical operations, which they have failed to do thus far,” she said.
The partnership became strained in spring 2024, only a year into the collaboration.
According to a letter sent to Strum by FAU’s Hasner on Wednesday, the partnership agreement between the university and the health system was restructured in early 2024 because of “regulatory concerns.” In the restructuring, Broward Health gained control, and FAU became a minority partner. The two entities continued to negotiate the terms.
Hasner wrote to Strum: “The financial terms proposed by Broward Health are now untenable and do not provide the necessary support for the University to sustain its medical mission and fulfill its obligations to its students and community … It is undeniable that after countless meetings and discussions, we have reached an impasse … Our respective attorneys should begin discussions on the appropriate steps forward to jointly withdraw from this arrangement.”
But on Thursday, Broward Health spokeswoman Smith told the South Florida Sun Sentinel, “There were no renegotiations in 2024. Since FAU was unable to perform the business operations of the partnership, it was proposed that the bylaws be changed to grant Broward Health the authority to run the back-office functions for the operation.”
But in the letter from President Hasner to the trustees on Thursday, he said Broward Health owes FAU $7.4 million for unpaid invoices that have been outstanding for over a year.
“College of Medicine faculty physicians work at their hospitals treating their patients, and FAU pays those physicians. The hospital is contractually obligated to reimburse FAU for their salaries and ongoing operational expenses. The amount owed now exceeds $7.4 million,” FAU spokesman Joshua Glanzer told the Sun Sentinel on Thursday.
But Smith said, “In the agreement, Broward Health agreed to pay up to $15 million and has already paid over $7 million. We have requested that FAU assist in reconciling invoices submitted.”
On Thursday, all FAU students at Broward Health were told by the health system not to return.
“This message is to inform you that, effective immediately, students from your institution will no longer be permitted to complete clinical rotations at Broward Health. Please note that this decision was made at the executive leadership level and is effective as of today. Accordingly, today will be the final day on site for all students currently at Broward Health,” Danielle Young, Broward Health Student Programs Coordinator, wrote to FAU. Broward Health operates five hospitals.
At the same time, Memorial Healthcare System, which Strum also leads as interim CEO, also has a dispute with FAU. Memorial, which has six hospitals, also has ended its clinical education program with FAU. Students had been scheduled to arrive at Memorial’s facilities starting Oct. 20.
The dispute centers on the number of days’ notice Memorial Healthcare System should be required to provide FAU to end its clinical rotations program at Memorial hospitals. Memorial had wanted to modify the termination notice period from 180 days to 30 days, according to FAU.
Smith provided this explanation to the Sun Sentinel: “Six months ago, Memorial went through a review to standardize all its contracts, including term notices. On April 18, 2025, a revised term was offered to FAU.” She said FAU told Memorial it does not intend to pursue a new contract with the revised terms.
FAU has hired an attorney who sent a legal notice to Memorial about the termination of its students.
“When Memorial insisted on a 30-day termination notice earlier this year, Memorial departed from the course of conduct between the parties during the last fifteen years,” FAU’s attorney, Alan Lawson, wrote to Memorial’s chief academic officer on Wednesday.
Lawson indicated Memorial is in breach of its agreement, which will have repercussions. “Your stated intent to disallow FAU’s students from participating in their assigned rotations — to which you expressly agreed but now suddenly attempt to obstruct — harms the students, the patients whom they serve, and general public health in South Florida.”
In total, nearly 200 medical and nursing students are affected.
“All College of Medicine students have been reassigned thanks to our other long-standing clinical partners, and we are diligently taking steps to reassign the other (nursing and social work) students removed by Broward Health today,” said FAU spokesperson Joshua Glanzer.
Said Smith at Broward Health: “When their business operations are optimized and the medical school deems itself ready to perform its duties, we stand ready to be the partner that brings academic medicine to Broward County in partnership with FAU.”
South Florida Sun Sentinel education reporter Scott Travis contributed to this report.
South Florida Sun Sentinel health reporter Cindy Goodman can be reached at cgoodman@sunsentinel.com or 954-304-5908.
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