[goodtimesintv]

It's not complex. Enough patients translate to enough revenue to pay the bills. Unlike the federal government, they could not print money when revenues were lower than expenses.

Some call that "greed", but others call it "fiscally responsible" and "committed to solvency".

USF pulls out of its $4 million specialty care clinic at the Villages
By Jodie Tillman, Times Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 17, 2014 5:45pm

"....But less than six months later, USF quietly got out of that business, walking away from a $4 million investment by its doctors group before the losses grew even greater.

The center remains open to patients, but USF in June turned its operation over to for-profit partner Villages Health, which already owned the property on which it sits.

Within months of opening, USF officials decided they couldn't make enough income for the center to succeed, said Dr. Jeff Lowenkron, CEO of the USF Physicians Group, the medical school faculty's practice.

One of the main reasons: lower-than-expected sales of a Medicare managed care plan at the heart of USF's revenue projections.

The center was on track to run a $2 million operating deficit this year, he said, and the gap showed no sign of closing soon.

"We just made a conscious business decision that we couldn't afford the ongoing investment," said Lowenkron.....

Lowenkron said the USF group needed about 230 patients a day to make the finances work. When USF pulled out in June, the practice was drawing fewer than 100 patients a day, he said.

Further, the business model relied on getting enough patients to enroll in a United Healthcare Medicare Advantage plan created specially for the Villages. Only about 6,000 Villages residents enrolled in the United plan in its first year. About 20,000 would have been needed for the math to have worked out favorably, Lowenkron said.

He and Wolfson blame some of the controversy surrounding cuts to Medicare Advantage plans, as well as news that United was dropping popular hospitals, including Moffitt Cancer Center, from its networks......"

USF pulls out of its $4 million specialty care clinic at the Villages | Tampa Bay Times