Market advantage

Tom Blankenship has built bona fide health care business successes twice in 20 years.

First it was with a heart and vascular center in Sarasota. That grew into a $50 million business under Blankenship's leadership, with offices in three counties. Next was a medical billing and office management firm, Partners in Practice. That grew from a startup in 2000 to more than $200 million in billings in less than a decade, with clients from Miami to South Carolina. Blankenship sold Partners in Practice in 2009.

Blankenship's third and latest foray into health care is likely the trickiest one yet. He founded a health insurance firm, Lakewood Ranch-based BeHealthy. Three years and millions of dollars in personal investments in the making, the firm offers Medicare clients in Sarasota and Manatee counties a Medicare Advantage Plan. Medicare Advantage is a federally authorized program where a private company contracts with Medicare to provide an approved list of benefits.