By Jodie Tillman

Times Staff Writer

TAMPA University of South Florida officials had envisioned the multimillion-dollar medical center 80 miles away in the Villages retirement community as a bold expression of the medical school's wider ambitions.

But so few patients turned up for care that the university last summer abandoned its work at the clinic and turned over millions of dollars in assets to the for-profit Villages Health System. Now the failure has created a job opportunity for a former USF official, which is worrying some university leaders.

"It raises questions and concerns," said USF trustee Scott Hopes of the fact that the same doctor who presided over the start and end of the university's venture is now working for Villages Health.

That doctor is Jeff Lowenkron, who in December resigned his post as chief executive officer of the USF Physicians Group, the medical school faculty's practice, to become chief medical officer for Villages Health.

Villages Health is the entity that emerged from efforts by former USF medical school dean Stephen Klasko to transform the Villages, near Ocala, into "America's Healthiest Hometown."

As part of that program, USF's physician practice invested millions in patient revenues into creating a center offering such specialties as gynecology and orthopedics at the Villages. But only a few months after opening early last year, patient numbers were so far below projections that USF administrators determined they were on track to lose $2million.

So in June, USF pulled the plug, turning over assets the leased building, employee operations and medical equipment to Villages Health. The university's medical practice wrote off nearly $5million on the deal, Hopes said.

Lowenkron said in an interview that he wished the USF partnership had worked out. But in the months after USF decided to get out of the business, he began talking with Villages officials about taking a job there, a position similar to one he held before coming to USF in 2012. He resigned on Dec. 22 and started at the Villages this month.

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After USF failure in the Villages, top official finds job there