With new medical center, Benjamin Leon is back in business. (Leon Medical Centers)

In Miami's Hispanic community, the name Leon has been synonymous with managed care.

In 1964, Benjamin Leon Sr. started South Florida's first Cuban Clinica. In 1973, he received the state's first HMO license, launching Clinica Asociacion Cubana, better known as CAC.

Twenty-three years later, Leon's son, Benjamin Jr., is carrying on his late father's legacy, not because he has to - he's a multimillionaire from the sale of CAC to Australian conglomerate Ramsay - but because he wants to get back to what his family envisioned managed care should be.

Last August, the 52-year-old Cuban native launched the first of what he expects will be at least eight South Florida medical centers. Located just off Flagler Street in the heart of Little Havana, Leon Medical Centers already is taking care of more than 1,500 Medicare recipients. The goal: 5,000.

"We guarantee we will maintain your health," said Leon. "We are going to (apply) the principals of managed care that everyone has preached about for so long."

To that end, …