The Villages Medical at Colony Plaza
 

I finally got fed up with our doctor's office after they closed the Sumter Landing office and didn't transfer my appointment to their new office.

I called The Villages Medical at Colony Plaza to see if we can see physicians there.

Surprise! They are not taking any new patients. If I want to join their group, I have to choose between Creekside and Pinellas offices.

Not sure what to think of this.

You could think "Gee. A lot of people must like the Villages Health clinics."

I love dr. Helen at Pinellas. Give them her a try. It's not that far from Colony.

That makes me happy to hear! The docs are at their patient load capacity. We are very pleased with everything about it. You snooze, you lose.....sorry.

I wonder then why their university partners pulled their financial backing claiming low enrollment.

I recently left the Colony facility - so there is at least one open slot!

What an attitude!

I wonder the same.

I may have misread the news article, but I think they were specifically referring to the medicare advantage plan called UnitedHealthcare The Villages MedicareComplete (HMO).

This whole thing has me confused.

As I understand it Florida State has research agreement with TV.....their 4M investment was in the specialist center and the number of Villagers using the docs in that center were less than forecast and they elected to not invest anymore. I think it's harder for those of us that need specialists to change when we are satisfied with our doctors therefore, the revenue forecast wasn't profitable. Their support of the Health System remains which is research including trials.....maybe more.

But it's true!
If you do you lose.

We very much wanted to be patients at The Villages Healthcare but they didn't take our health insurance , Aetna PPI. So we could not enroll.

I don't quite understand this. We have been accepted by doctors always before. Is it that their charges are higher than what our insurance will cover?

I have read that USF pulled out because they were expecting enrollment of 20,000 and only six thousand enrolled. I am guessing many more wanted to but could not because of the same problem.

I still would jump at the chance to be enrolled by The Villages Healthcare system, I have heard only good things.

oops, they must have filled your slot already! I think we'll just join the one at Pinellas, it's not so far. at least not as far as going all the way up to Rolling Acres Road and US441!

My wife had been seeing one of the Specialists for several years. That continued when Doctor closed her practice and went with Specialty Care group. Now that that has changed, in order for wife to see same doctor she would have to be set up as new patient with Villages Healthcare group and I assume start with a new primary care physician, despite the fact that she is extremely happy with her PCP who is not part of this group.

Looks like if the need arises in future for a specialist it won't be the same one she had seen in the past several years.

I am starting to understand why some doctors who have had long established practices in TV are more than a little unhappy with the new 800 pound gorilla.

One of the drawbacks of Medicare advantage programs is that they receive a premium from Medicare in exchange for controlling costs and providing additional services which are associated with improved health. Some plans use that extra money to offer insane rebates (like the plan that went belly up a couple of months ago).

One of the ways that they control costs is to reduce access to specialty care. HMOs do the same thing. At one point in the mid 90s, Kaiser in the DC area had a 3 year wait list for colonoscopies. Kept their costs down, but convinced more than a few folks that they really did not care about patient health.

The bottom line is that you have to make wise choices. When you see a plan that "saves you money" ask where the money to pay for it is coming from. It is not fairy dollars. It is not out of the goodness of their little corporate heart. They have a plan whereby they will make money. They just aren't likely to tell you before you are committed.

Doctors are running a business. They will generally not accept reimbursement which is below what they need to make (would you work for free?). They are also free to move. If they can't make money, they will close their business and move on.

Doctors are ultimately free to set their prices. Insurance companies are free to set their reimbursement rates. When they don't reach agreement, no sale happens. We call that "the free market."

Just a poor way of responding to the posters situation....Just saying!

Connie,

Perhaps Colony will add the 8th and final Doctor when Fruitland opens. You may want to inquire to see if you can get on the wait list if this truly happens and you like the new Doctor. Things are always changing and maybe you can be on a waitlist for a specific Doctor that you like.