Villages Health Doctor says not so fast
 

I just saw a pleading from Doctor Jim Besong filing an objection to assumption of his contract in the bankruptcy process.
I would include a cut and paste of the response but it's an image from a fax.
I expect that more will follow. More lawyers getting $$.

I'd put my money on the Village Health

This is the document.

https://cases.stretto.com/public/x45...0000000125.pdf

In January, 2025, he was promised a base salary of $230,000. He claims that a number of physicians left earlier this year.

Not sure if more lawyers are getting money as it does not appear that he has lawyer but is representing himself.

I guess Graduates of Medical Schools in the Caribbean aren't paid the big money.

Looks like his Motion was written by AI.

Don't knock him. If all of the doctors educated in the Caribbean left the US it would take months to get an appointment and even then would most likely be with a PA, especially in Florida.

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Maybe, but quality would rise by 50%

I use The Villages Health and this is depressing. The whole situation keeps getting more complicated.

The bigger and scary takeaway from this is that doctors appear to be running away from TVH, and those bound by contract are looking for a way out. Not a good sign. Can’t say I blame them with all the uncertainty they are facing.

I think I made that very same point a day or two ago. Let's hope that the same herd mentality that has infected posters on TOTV doesn't spread to our medical providers. Unfortunately, it looks like this is "Outbreak" and social media is the monkey

My new PCP graduated from the same Medical School as Dr Besong (Ross Medical in Barbados).

After an exhaustive 3 day search a few months ago, I found that Mass General Hospital system, one of the world's best hospitals, has less only 5 MD's, who are accepting new patients for Primary Care (plenty of PA's & NP's).

(So far, my new PCP has only had to make one medical recommendation and he did way better than my last Dr, who went to Med School in India.)

Is there a list of other doctors who are jumping ship?

It is implied by the doctor who submitted the bankruptcy court filing attached in post number three. The same doctor is trying to get out of his contract.

I wouldn't think ONE doctor out of many would be reasonable to deduce many others are.

Read the bankruptcy court filing before passing judgment. It’s highly unlikely a Doctor is lying in a court filing, not a good idea to say the least. The filing is by a doctor who doesn’t want his contract assigned to whoever ends up buying or bailing out TVH. Part of his reasoning is because his workload has increased very rapidly, and sooner than outlined under his contract, because he is being forced to pick up the workload resulting from other doctors leaving the practice. He claims it is conflicting with his contract, his personal life, and having a negative effect on his mental health. It’s all there in the bankruptcy court filing.

I'd like the Justice Department to go after the ringleaders of this massive $350 million Medicare fraud and all the ancillary hoodlums who profited mightily from this criminality.

And yet another uninformed, unsubstantiated opinion from the torches and pitchforks crowd.
OK, I'll bite. You know this to be the case because.....You are the lawyer for TVH? You are their accountant? You are a member of the Morse family?
Has anyone seen the term "fraud" used anywhere officially, or is only on social media?
And I love the phrase "ancillary hoodlums who profited mightily from this criminality."---Was Jennifer Parr moonlighting as a mugger of little old ladies in the park?

I've seen less crap come out of my granddaughter's diaper.

His starting pay was $230,000! I was shocked. He should be working very hard indeed for that sort of money. I was interested in what he learned about the “billing methodology” of The Villages. Is that a between-the-lines hint that he’s willing to testify about how the illegal billing was done?

$230K "shocked you"???

Then sit down, because even though I've been retired for 10 years, I receive an offer to work in Clearwater, 4 days/week, office only, no on-call, no more than 14 patients/day, 6 weeks' vacation and 2 weeks CME for $540,000 + signing bonus + benefits. $230K is LOW

I got a letter that my doctor was retiring so make that 2

I agree with GE.

That doesn't even make sense. Are you saying foreign taught doctors are not as qualified? Do you have data on that or is once again make a statement regardless of the truth?

Already know one of doctors we use has submitted 6 month notice. Sad situation.

The only reason that particular doctor was only getting back $230,000, is likely his pedigree isn't all that great.

Any Dr who's not making $300K+ is being under-paid and there's usually a reason why.

It's the 21st Century and quite honestly, I think Doctors have been under-paid for years. The 8 years of being tortured in school & a couple more years of torture in the Residency system? What other profession has to wait until they're nearly 30 years old, before then can earn a decent living?

The fantastic 90 year old company that I worked for in N.C. for many years could not sustain itself during the dasterdly 2008-2012 years, due to slow reimbursement rates and reduced Medicaid payments.

As the ship was slowly sinking, we were all looking to jump.

One morning, the Medical Director announced that our pay would be late, but they have negotiated with a firm that will "TakeOver", and announced the well known service providers name. (I gasped).

That was a hard 5 minutes for me.

Quickly albeit with sadness, I knew the law, and I knew my "out" wasn't in the lesser company taking over, (I would have to continue), it was in my current company giving us letters that our pay would be delayed.
I gave my notice immediately following morning meeting, but offered to stay as long as they needed me, during the take over.

My colleagues stayed and sweated the known horrendous new workload of the new company's business model.

They all quit within 6 months and fought legal battles.

They had their chance to see the loophole, but wanted the job security in hard economic times.
I couldn't blame them, but the takeover company had a bad reputation and I didn't want anything to do with them.

Interesting how fast these salvation companies scoop in to save the day, like Mighty Mouse!

IMO this what happens when they put hands in exclusive UHC pockets. :clap2:

This is speculation but maybe worth a thought. AI will change medicine, why spend eight years re-learning a fraction of what a AI Bot already knows? Another four years learning to apply that knowledge? The Bot can instantly update its knowledge and skills and apply them in medical practice without relearning and retraining. The role of humans has to be defined but it will be integrated with the AI model. Perhaps Drs will be trained as medical software engineers. At the care layer they may become reviewers and approvers rather than practicing physicians. The fewer humans in a system the more efficient it becomes. No question that medicine as practiced today is inefficient, resulting in over treatment, misdiagnoses, readmissions, unnecessary deaths and yes, billing "errors."

Congrats - you did very well !

A 10 second google came back with this:

What is the salary range of a Physician General Practitioner? As of August 01, 2025, the average annual salary for a Physician General Practitioner in the United States ranges from $230,990 (25th percentile) to $270,490 (75th percentile), with a median annual salary of $245,290 and an hourly rate of $118. A Physician General Practitioner's salary is shaped by several key factors, including experience level, specific skills, industry differences, company size, and more. Below, we'll explore how each of these influences compensation.

It's getting to sound more and more like the developer (Morse family) reaped the benefits from the mass over billing of Medicare thru multiple corporations. Now they are trying to borrow money from one of their own and charge/pay themself a 12 percent interest rate.
The web is bigger than we know!

Yup and they said dentistry will be taken over by AI also. There is only one problem with the AI scenerio.. the father of the AI movement, John McCarthy, indicated we could all be wiped off the face of the earth by AI unless measures were taken to control it. Per AI: John McCarthy, one of the founders of AI, had a nuanced view on the potential risks of advanced AI. While he strongly advocated for developing AI systems based on logic and formalization, which he believed would make them more controllable and comprehensible, he did express concern about the possibility of an AI system becoming uncontrollable.
Here's a closer look at his perspective:
Focus on Logic and Controllability: McCarthy emphasized using logic as a foundation for AI, hoping to create systems that could be understood and controlled. He explicitly stated his desire to have AI systems function as "servants" and even argued against giving robots human-like emotions to avoid them developing their own social status or becoming targets for sympathy or dislike.
Concerns about "Black Box" AI: He expressed concern that an AI system developed through evolutionary processes, without a clear logical structure, might become an uncontrollable "black box". He believed that even if such an AI achieved impressive results, a logical understanding of it would be essential for control and would be more "scientifically satisfying".
Emphasis on Human Control and Alignment: McCarthy's work suggests that he believed AI development should prioritize human control and ensure AI systems align with human values and interests. In essence, McCarthy didn't dismiss the possibility of AI posing risks, particularly concerning the loss of control or the failure to align with human values. His research and advocacy reflected a desire to create AI that was not only intelligent but also understandable, predictable, and ultimately beneficial to humanity rather than a threat.

I prefer PAs and nurse practitioners.

We don't.

Before I turned 65 with VHC every time my annual appointment come up had new doctor cause the one I had either when somewhere else or moved on?

I prefer who ever don’t push every pill under sun or do redundant tests…

Everyone takes a haircut in bankruptcy. The lawyers are the biggest beneficiaries. Get in line with everyone else.

In January, 2025, he was promised a base salary of $230,000. He claims that a number of physicians left earlier this year.

Not sure if more lawyers are getting money as it does not appear that he has lawyer but is representing himself.[/QUOTE]

Yes. And it makes perfect sense

And everything I post is true

And not that I actually am obligated to provide research, but here is an example.

The Caribbean medical school from which the subject of this thread graduated boasts an 83% pass rate for their graduates taking part I of the national boards---and that's their number from their website

Graduates in an American Internal Medicine residency have a 99.4% pass rate
Graduates in an American Family Practice residency have a 91.7% pass rate (the difference most like is a result of family practice residencies taking on a lot of graduates of osteopathic schools and not medical schools

As is often said, the med student that graduated last in his/her class is still called doctor. In medicine, perhaps more than any other profession, the individual matters most. Academic pedigree may not matter the most but it's certainly a reasonable place to start. Now most of that information is available online. It used to be an early part of my conversation when interviewing a new PCP.

Few people realize just how much it costs, in time and money, to get the white coat. It starts with undergraduate school and a BS degree. The degree can be in many areas but US medical schools have prerequisites and look for stellar grades (3.7+) in the science courses such as biology, chemistry, physics and biochemistry. Also, it is not uncommon for students to apply more than once as they may not be accepted on their first try. Medical school is a 4-year program but then comes residency training which can vary from 3 to 7 years. Neurosurgeons are 7 years.
Fortunately, residents receive a salary in the $60,000 to $75,000 range.
So, typically, for at least the first 8 years they not only have no income (unless part time work), they are paying tuition, room and board. The average student loan debt of graduating physicians is around $250,000. Add in the lost income they could have made had they only chose a BS degree and the total amount of time and money is staggering. Paying back those student loans can be easily cost over $2,000/month for 20 or more years.
Is a $240,000 income enough to compensate for this investment? You decide.

Which is why the way doctors are taught in medical schools is absurd, unnecessary, and needs to be reformed.

Many doctors will tell you that the majority of what they learned in medical school never directly applies to their day-to-day practice. A more effective approach would be to structure medical training the way we educate tradespeople in vocational schools, with focused instruction in the chosen specialty, followed by several years of hands-on training.

There is little justification for requiring eight years of school plus seven years of residency before a doctor can practice independently, beyond sustaining the financial interests of universities and hospitals.

And who ends up paying for all of it? You and I through exorbitant prices for the services we receive.

And if you really want to see what a racket it is, just go here and see how out of whack what American doctors make compared to the rest of the world. Doctor Pay by Country 2025