Physician-run HMO in Florida is going out of business

The plan lasted for two years before financial issues overwhelmed it.

By Jonathan G. Bethely, AMNews staff. Dec. 11, 2006.

A circuit court judge in Florida has placed DoctorCare, a physician-run HMO in Miami, into receivership over growing concerns about the company's finances.

Nina Banister, a spokeswoman for the Florida Dept. of Financial Services, said state regulators will now run the company. Eventually all the company's assets will be liquidated to pay outstanding claims.

Meanwhile, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said it will transition nearly 5,700 of DoctorCare's members into two other HMOs, WellCare of Florida Inc. and Preferred Care Partners Inc., by March 31, 2007.

Florida's chief financial officer, Tom Gallagher, said the situation will not cause an interruption in access to health care services and Medicare drug benefit coverage.

Florida Dept. of Financial Services data show DoctorCare had 5,359 members on Dec. 31, 2005, and collected nearly $27 million in premiums. It had a net loss of $4.7 million in 2005 and closed the year with a $400,000 deficit.

DoctorCare was started in 2004 by a group of physicians serving mostly Hispanic patients in Miami. The doctors said they started the plan because they were tired of dealing with traditional insurers.

The physicians say they dealt with many high users of care. They also said they struggled with an inexperienced, though competent and hard-working, administrative staff.