Sarasota Memorial Hospital reflects that pattern, according to the KFF Health News study.
By Noah Lechtenstein
Original Air Date: July 17, 2026
Host: On average, a gunshot injury pops up in a Florida hospital every three hours. But one of every four patients with gunshot injuries of the 20,000 treated in the state during the six-year span until 2024 did not have health insurance. And that means less time at the hospital. This issue was spotlighted in a recent report from KFF Health News. WSLR News reporter Noah Lechtenstein takes a look at the two gunshot wound-treating hospitals on the Suncoast – and he got answers from one.
Noah Lechtenstein: The KFF report detailed the differences in treatment time at Florida hospitals that see gun violence victims. It listed statistics from at least 29 hospitals, highlighting how uninsured victims spent nearly 25% less time in hospitals compared to those who were privately insured. The study compared uninsured patients to those with Medicaid and those with private insurance.
Photo: Jessi McCormick via Wikimedia Commons
Sarasota Memorial is one of two hospitals in the Sarasota-Manatee area that treats gunshot wounds. The public hospital saw 225 gunshot patients from 2018 to 2024. That is a small number compared to Orlando Regional, which saw more than 1,300, or Tampa General, which saw 900. But the Sarasota numbers do reflect the statewide pattern: Uninsured gunshot victims spent an average of around six days in the hospital, privately insured patients spent almost 8 days, and those on Medicaid spent over 12 days in the hospital.
When I reached out to Sarasota Memorial’s public relations director, Kim Savage responded with a written statement. The disparities are mostly due to what happens after the emergency room, the statement said.
“Patients who do not have insurance have fewer options for post-acute care and usually go home when they are medically safe for discharge from the hospital, with additional support and medical equipment provided by the hospital and community healthcare partners.”
The statement went on to explain how patients with health insurance often have to wait for the insurance to approve post-acute care and facility placement which, according to the statement, is consistent with all types of injuries. This leads insured patients to stay longer than those who do not have to wait for any approval.
“We think the data would look vastly different if the study authors looked at admission date to the date the patient is medically safe for discharge from acute care, rather than overall hospital admission to discharge date.”
At HCA Blake Hospital—the other gunshot wound treatment center in the area—stays are actually longer for patients without insurance than for those who are privately insured. The private hospital in Bradenton treated 365 gunshot patients in the six-year period, more than Sarasota Memorial. Uninsured patients at the private hospital in Bradenton averaged longer visits than those with private insurance. Patients with Medicaid still stayed the longest.
We tried to reach HCA Blake via corporate headquarters but were not successful before deadline.
KFF obtained the stats for its report through the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. The report left out cases where a patient left against medical advice or died in the hospital. It also excluded any stays of 68 or more days to prevent outliers from skewing data.
They also used an “injury severity score” to assess whether age or injury severity explained the shorter lengths of stay for uninsured patients.
Photo: xtrekx via iStock
In Florida, nearly 90% of residents have some type of health insurance. Nearly 4 million adults in the state are covered by Medicaid. That leaves close to 2 million Floridians uninsured.
According to the most recent census, about 13% of Sarasota County residents under 65 do not have health insurance.
Reporting for WSLR News, this is Noah Lechtenstein.
WSLR News aims to keep the local community informed with our 1/2 hour local news show, quarterly newspaper and social media feeds. The local news broadcast airs on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm.