Health Care Issues in the Villages
 

I get the impression after being here for one month, that all this building of new homes, so many people moving here and no actual plan of better health care exist. The Village Health centers are overwhelmed , cant even get registered with a doctor until the end of the year. Seems like no planning is going into this issue. I hope its not the case. I also understand the hospital ER wait is awful, especially in Snowbird season. I just hope i am totally wrong. What is a newbie to do, and as seniors we need good , reliable and quick health care. Again, I hope i am wrong, please tell me. Any ideas about how to get into a GP, or any clues as to how to see specialists?/ We are also young seniors so we are not on Medicare yet...

I would say it all depends on what health insurance provider you have. Go to their web site, pull up a list of the physicians in their network, check out a few of the physicians online and make an appointment.

As far as The Villages Emergency Room, consider one of the Urgent Care centers if you do not have a life threatening or damaging emergency. Also, if you do feel you have a real medical emergency, call 911 and let them transport you to the ER. Ambulance emergencies do get immediate attention while walk-ins do have waits.

The developer can build buildings which they have done (Look at the large Hospital) and they have tried to build a health network but they cannot make doctors come here to work. Generally excellent doctors are attracted by large teaching hospitals and grant money.


Personally I think that the state of Florida is behind generally in the quality of medicine that is available, compared to Cincinnati, Ohio where I am from.


We consult Dr. Felix Agbo and he is still taking patients.

We use Felix Agbo,too. Lots of Drs. are getting out of the business due Obama care. They are working for medical developers as contractors.

Dr Swietarski is taking on new patients now. 352-326-7850 Very nice Doctor

So much in medicine is changing so quickly that our whole country is experiencing growing pains. There is now an emphasis on draconian over-regulation and reporting to insurance companies and the government agencies that has robbed time from patients to fulfill bureaucratic wet dreams. The financing of health care for patients, providers, and institutions is undergoing vast changes. The demographics of providers and the nature of practice is evolving rapidly. The technology, and its cost changes almost daily. The body of medical knowledge now doubles every 2-3 years by some estimates. The challenge is to keep pace.
GG is right---building offices is easy, it's what TV does best. Recruitment is a big hurdle everywhere. I know that the senior leadership of TV Healthcare is trying hard. I personally started getting headhunter letters from TV every 3-4 months starting 4-5 years ago, I just keep getting them, even though I retired. They were able to recruit one of our partners after 28 years in NY, and it looks like they are managing to staff their primary care offices. Clinicians are not necessary attracted by large teaching hospitals and grant money---this really only applies to academic physicians who want to do research and teach more than they want to see and treat patients. It does have a bigger impact on recruiting sub-specialists. Compensation is not the biggest factor either.
In our small city of 32,000, our primary care group has had great success in recruiting quality American University trained physicians. As I leave 8 doctors here to carry on, we have 3 HS valedictorians, I believe 5 summa cum laude university graduates, and residencies from SUNY to Charity in New Orleans to Wake Forrest and Univ of Michigan. Two of the 8 were chief residents, including Strong Memorial in Rochester, one of the best programs in the country. I have personally been part of recruiting all but one of them. The secret is that we deal honestly regarding work schedules, compensation, responsibilities and the group philosophy. There are no surprises and no unrealistic expectations.
I do not believe this model will survive for long. Private practice is A LOT of work beyond practicing medicine. Because of certain legal decisions, most notably the LIBBY ZION case, residency training has instilled a "shift mentality" into young doctors. Many now just want to work M-F, 8-5, no call, no hospital, no administrative duties and collect a paycheck, often as a salaried employee. This is the death knell of private practice. Solo and 2 physician partnerships are all but gone under the new reality, it will probably take at least a group of 6 to survive

Sorry to digress, but this was a summary of the challenges we face in American healthcare, among others.
Is VHC "overwhelmed"? I don't know. I believe the original plan was for 8 primary care centers, so given the ongoing recruitment I would not be surprised to see 2 more open, geographically Brownwood and Pine Ridge would be logical. This is just MY speculation, NOT inside info. Is the quality of medicine in Florida lagging? That's a huge generalization, but one I've thought true for the last 30 years based on treating "snowbirds". This too is changing, and applies to specialty care more than primary care anyway.
It takes a few months to get an initial appointment at VHC, but they allow plenty of time for visits so I understand the delay---but if you are signed up
they will take care of an urgent problem even before your 1st visit.
Bottom line , IMHO. TV and its healthcare is just facing the same problems as the rest of the nation. It will eventually settle out (or collapse). But even if the new reality fails, people need healthcare, so some other Phoenix will rise out of the ashes

What other developer or builder is expected to provide medical care?

Expected?-----None

The new trend, however, is to create stratified adult communities to serve residents from retirement to grave. This includes a path from independent home ownership to assisted living to nursing home, and medical care is integral to that model. I get the sense that Gary Morse was ahead of his time in this vision, others are just now playing catch-up.

Just my own experience ~ and I'm not eligible for Medicare yet, either.

It did take a while to get into Villages health Care, and then I loathed the Doc I got. I did some research, found a Doc I thought I'd like. Called and asked for her, and had an initial visit within three weeks. I did like her; no complaints. Needed some tests and a small foot problem dealt with. No complaints about care.

Came down with a bug a few months ago. Called for an appointment, they scheduled me that very morning. Not with my primary, but with a PA. She was fine.

A day later, I was having trouble breathing ( I have asthma) and went to the urgent care attached to the hospital. It was around 6 PM. There was no one else there, I was seen instantly and whisked to a room. The Doc was great, very thorough and patient.

I've only been her 6 months, but so far I am satisfied. Hope this helps!

I totally agree. We are not members of the Villages Health care system. We have our own primary doctor and have found no problem at all getting in to see doctors or have any complaints about waiting times or quality of care. We have lived here several years and I've never worried one minute about that. You just have to do your research on a GP. Get recommendations from others and if you need a specialist do the same. We have access to lots of great doctors all over the place. I also love the urgent care at the hospital. Have been there 3 times and have never had to wait. They have access to x-rays and bloodwork because they are in the hospital.

there are plenty of good doctors in and around the villages. the hospital here is ok but I'd go elsewhere. Leesburg has a decent hospital and for serious stuff there's Shands and Mayo but they are a bit of a ride. this is based on my experiences.

We have used the urgent care clinic at Sumter Landing twice and found the doctors and care we received very satisfactory.

Been here 2 years, and my (our) complaints are:
1. The Villages Health care system, does not do or have the capability of the Lehigh Valley Health care system. It seems to lack specialists, and when you go to a specialists, they are not on the same electronic patient network, so several time the PC doctor never sees the reports from the specialist.
2. Be careful about the local United Health Care HMO, I have United Health Care (through AARP) and have had no problems, my wife went with the HMO, had to change 2 0r 3 specialists, and their mail in pharmacy has provided several problems with renewals and late deliveries.

When I think of a SYSTEM I expect a fully integrated system, that is not what we have, so ask questions, lots of questions.
Hope this helps.
PS, once we got everything settled, we have been satisfied with the results, but it was very confusing initially.

There are reasons other than Obama Care........

Greed for one.