Doctors form new venture

FORT MYERS — Hospitalist Group of Southwest Florida, a group of physicians who specialize in hospital care, formed a joint venture with Cogent HMG, the largest privately held hospital-physician company in the country.

The newly formed venture, called Inpatient Specialists of Southwest Florida, has contracted with Lee Memorial Health System to provide physicians to four hospitals.

Terms of the joint venture and the Lee Memorial deal were not disclosed, but the three-year contract is designed to tie physician compensation with patient results and other benchmarks. Officials with Inpatient Specialists say 40% of their compensation will be tied to such benchmarks.

The deal comes as the federal government's Medicare program plans to reward or punish doctors for patient outcomes. In addition, lower insurance reimbursements are forcing physicians groups to become more efficient. Brentwood, Tenn.-based Cogent provides hospital physicians to more than 100 hospitals around the country.

Inpatient Specialists will have 35 hospitalists, who are physicians who specialize in the care of patients during hospitalization. The venture will oversee hospitalist care at Lee Memorial's four hospitals in Fort Myers and Cape Coral.