Nonprofits Weigh Benefits of Buyer Joint Ventures

He says the 2010 BJV in Florida of Shands Healthcare and its three University of Florida-affiliated hospitals by investor-owned HMA of Naples provides another good example of the changing sentiment.

"Historically,  you would not have seen someone like the University of Florida working with HMA, but that has been a rip-roaring success," Burgdorfer says.

"The University of Florida sold a majority stake in its rural hospitals surrounding Gainesville and retained full ownership of its tertiary academic medical center. They got a lot of money out of it. They no longer have to run these little county hospitals that they aren't good at running because they run big academic hospitals."

"HMA does a better job of running these little hospitals. That is their business. And the referrals are going up. They are all happy as a pig in mud," he says. "Hats off to the University of Florida to being willing to consider change like that. Most big nonprofits don't want to engage in that kind of change because they think for-profit companies are evil."

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