Ernesto Padron, CRT After graduating from an accredited Respiratory Therapy Program, Ernie worked several years in hospitals as a Licensed Respiratory Therapist, starting in regular floor care, and advancing to the adult and neonatal critical care units. His experience in Critical Care is where he realized that many patients who could no longer be helped at the hospital level, were discharged home on ventilators with little or no support. Seeing the need for home Respiratory Care, he founded South Florida Pulmonary Care, Inc. in 1989. SFPC is a licensed HME and accredited by Joint Commission for HME and Clinical Respiratory Care Services. His vision was always to specialize in high acuity home care patients. Today SFPC serves a large population of home mechanical ventilator patients in five counties in South Florida, with future expansion plans for other areas in Florida in the future. SFPC uses innovative technology that keeps patients safely at home by reducing unnecessary Hospital Admissions while improving clinical outcomes. The use of Telemedicine, Remote Ventilator Monitoring, Case Management, and Care Coordination plus implementation of Non-Invasive Point-of-Care testing and providing a Board Certified Pulmonary and Critical Care Physician for our patients when required, makes SFPC in tune with 21st century home Respiratory Care for better outcomes while reducing the total cost of care.

In 2017 Ernie added the Hospital to Home COPD program that includes Care Coordination and Case Management for patients with COPD that have high hospital utilization. The COPD program is patient-centric, its educational initiatives and RT visits are collaborated with Pulmonologists, and Primary Care Physicians keeps patients safely at home and reduces hospital utilization. Today SFPC provides services for patients with traditional Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, and Commercial Insurance, and employs several Respiratory Therapists from Martin County to the Florida Keys.