Jackson Memorial Hospital plans to go to all private rooms

In a move to become more competitive and appeal more to patients, Jackson Memorial Hospital plans to make private all the rooms on its medical-surgical floors starting early next year, Chief Executive Carlos Migoya announced Wednesday. Many of the rooms are now semi-private, meaning they have two beds. At a monthly meeting of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, Migoya said he wants to make Miami-Dade's lead public hospital more customer-friendly. "It's good business. Insured patients who can choose where to go will no longer have to rule out Jackson because they don't know who or what is going to be in the next bed," he said. The change will also help Jackson compete with the University of Miami Hospital across the street, where all rooms are private.