Gov. Rick Scott is warning Shands and other nonprofit cancer research centers in Florida: If you franchise your brands to private entities, you'll risk losing state research funding.

The warning has raised concerns that Scott, former chief executive of the for-profit Columbia/HCA hospital chain, is taking aim at nonprofit hospitals for their outside collaborations.

Officials at those hospitals say they hope the governor instead is setting the parameters for a statewide cancer policy that makes Florida more of a destination for cancer treatment.