Buying a medical practice in Tampa Bay

• More than one clinician seeing patients, so the practice doesn't stop when one person leaves.
• Clean billing: claims paid on the first try, coding that holds up to review, and no open audits by Medicare or insurers.
• A mix of payers (Medicare, Medicaid plans and insurers), with no single one large enough to hurt you if it cuts rates.
• A steady base of returning patients with scheduled follow-ups.
• Referral relationships with many doctors and hospitals, not one.
• An office manager who runs the day without the physician owner.
• In-office services, like lab or imaging, that earn their keep and are set up within the referral rules.
• A records system the staff use well, with a patient portal and online scheduling.

Start with how much of the practice's collections come from the selling physician's own work, and how long they'll stay. Then hire an independent coder to audit a sample of charts: past overbilling can become a repayment demand, and how the deal is structured affects whether that debt follows you. Check every clinician against the federal exclusion list, which names people barred from Medicare and Medicaid.

Read each payer contract to see whether it can be assigned to you, and plan for a gap in cash while new enrollments and credentialing go through. If any referring doctor owns part of the practice, or the practice sends patients to labs, imaging or therapy it owns, have a health care attorney check the arrangement against federal law and Florida's Patient Self-Referral Act (section 456.053). Ask about malpractice claims and who pays for the seller's tail coverage (insurance for claims filed after a policy ends). Work out with your attorney how patient records will transfer and who will keep them.

• How much of the practice's collections come from your own visits, and how long would you like to keep practicing here?
• Which insurers make up most of your revenue, and when did you last renegotiate your rates?
• Who handles billing and coding, and has the practice had any audits or repayment requests?
• What brings in revenue besides office visits?
• How do new patients find you, and which doctors or hospitals send you the most?
• Who owns the practice today, and does it have an AHCA clinic license or rely on an exemption?
• Do your other clinicians have contracts, and are any of them planning to leave?

Tampa Bay, as we draw it, runs from Citrus County south through Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough, and east into Polk: Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Brandon, Wesley Chapel, Brooksville, Inverness, Lakeland and Winter Haven. Tampa is the business center, with Port Tampa Bay, Tampa International Airport, the University of South Florida and MacDill Air Force Base, home to the headquarters of U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command. Financial services, insurance and health care employ many people, and the Gulf beaches of Pinellas bring tourists and seasonal residents.

Polk County sits on Interstate 4 between Tampa and Orlando and has become a center for warehouses and distribution, alongside its older citrus and phosphate industries. To the north, Pasco, Hernando and Citrus are more suburban and rural, with many retirees. Home service companies, the building trades, medical practices and auto businesses all have a deep customer base across the region.

Hurricane Helene's storm surge in September 2024 and Hurricane Milton two weeks later both hit the region hard. Flood zones and insurance costs now matter in any deal near the water. Ask how the business came through those storms, what it claimed, and whether its building sits in a flood zone.

The labor market is deep by Florida standards, though skilled tradespeople can still be hard to find. New homes have pushed north and east into Pasco and eastern Hillsborough, and along Interstate 4 in Polk, bringing demand for services with them. Coastal Pinellas is more seasonal than inland Tampa or Lakeland. The bay itself shapes a service company's territory: crossing a bridge at rush hour can turn a short distance into a long drive, so look at where the customers actually are.