New Briefs
Mount Sinai Medical announces staff cuts
Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, FL, has announced that as a result of cuts in Medicare reimbursements, coupled with the loss of Medicare funding for its graduate medical education, it has been forced to terminate nearly 200 of its 2,900 employees. The facility, a 553-bed, not-for-profit teaching hospital, reported a loss of $13 million in revenues last year out of a total of $509.6 million. According to hospital administrators, Medicare constitutes 62% of the hospital’s total revenues.
People in the news: Who’s working where?
• Marsha Casey has left her position as CEO of Nashville’s Vanderbilt University Medical Center to become president of St. Vincent’s Health System in Indianapolis. Mark Penkhus, a former health care consultant, has been named as her replacement. Most recently he worked in Washington, DC, as director of the health care consulting practice for Ernst & Young’s mid-Atlantic region.
• Cardinal Health in Dublin, OH, has announced that Robert Walter, chairman and CEO, and John Kanes, president and COO, have assumed the responsibilities of Lester Knight, vice chairman and a member of the company’s board, who recently resigned. Prior to its being purchased by Cardinal, Lester had been chairman and CEO of Allegiance Corp., a manufacturer and distributor of medical products.
• Pittsburgh-based Western Pennsylvania Healthcare System has announced that it will take management control of the four remaining hospitals of the Allegheny Health, Education and Research Foundation. Acceptance of this proposal was contingent upon the release of Allegheny University Hospitals-West’s top management: Anthony Sanzo, CEO, Joseph Dionisio, CFO, and Dwight Kasperbaurer, vice president of human resources.
• John Page, the executive director of Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, has resigned his post, citing personal reasons. He had held the position since 1991.
Organizations announce mergers, acquisitions
Eclipsys Corp. in Delray Beach, FL, a health care information company, and VHA in Irving, TX, a health care alliance, have formed a new company, Healthvision. This newly formed organization will combine the two companies’ Internet-based product and services such as VHA’s Web-based network and portal to deliver clinical, operations, and knowledge-management tools and services. Eclipsys is in the process of developing clinical products that can also be delivered via Internet.
In a sudden turn of events, Brentwood, TN-based Community Health Systems has ended an agreement to purchase the 119-bed Victor Valley Community Hospital in Victorville, CA. No reason was given for the change in plans.
Catholic Health Services of Long Island in Melville, NY, will purchase another New York health care facility, Episcopal Health Services’ St. John’s Episcopal Hospital in Smithtown. Included in the sale are a nursing home, home health agency, senior housing, a medical office building, and a section of land. The deal, which is expected to close in mid-September, is worth an estimated $100 million.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine will be acquired by Indianapolis-based Anthem for about $120 million, $100 million of which will be used to fund a new foundation for state residents. The program currently has some 380,000 enrollees.
In other Anthem/Blue Cross news, Colorado Blue Cross and Blue Shield is now being bid on by WellPoint Health Networks. Anthem had already established a definitive agreement to purchase the Denver-based group for $200 million.
Foundation Health Systems (FHS) in Los Angeles announced plans to sell the 180-bed Memorial Hospital of Gardena, CA, and the 127-bed East Los Angeles Doctors Hospital to Healthplus in Houston for an undisclosed amount. The announcement comes as FHS continues to focus on its core health plan and government operations. As part of this strategic initiative, FHS has sold its health plans in Utah, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Tenet Healthcare Corp. has signed an agreement to sell its Columbia (MO) Regional Hospital to the University of Missouri for an undisclosed sum. The hospital in question is just one of 20 the group has indicated it wanted to sell by year’s end.
Olsten returns to the spotlight
After months of negotiations, Olsten Corp. has signed the final civil, administrative, and criminal settlement agreements it reached with the federal government in March.
The agreement was made with the Department of Justice and the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services following the results of an investigation into the company’s dealings with Columbia/HCA and its home office cost reports. Now Olsten only needs to make the formal execution and entry in three federal district courts, and pending their approval, payment of the $61 million cash settlement.
More encouraging news from Olsten comes in the form of the company’s announcement that 68 Olsten Health Services branch office locations were awarded accreditation from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.
The locations, by region, are:
• Bradenton, FL
— Bradenton
— Tampa
— Lakeland
— Sebring
— Sun City
— Clearwater
— St. Petersburg
— Dunedin
— New Port Richey
— Zephyrhills
— Bushnell
— Brooksville
— Hudson
• Fort Myers, FL
— Fort Myers
— Naples
— Port Charlotte
— Englewood
— Sarasota (2)
• Lake City, FL
— Lake City
— Live Oak
— Fort Walton Beach
— Crestview
— Panama City
— Marianna
— Tallahassee
— Jacksonville
— St. Augustine
— Gainesville
— Chiefland
— Starke
— Ocala
— Crystal River
— Pensacola
— Palataka
• North Miami, FL
— North Miami
— Miami
— Ft. Lauderdale
— Hollywood
— Lake Worth
• Tampa, FL
— Tampa
• Winter Park, FL
— Winter Park
— Sanford
— Kissimmee
— Daytona Beach
— Deland
— New Smyrna Beach
— Cocoa
— Melbourne
— Vero Beach
— Port St. Lucie
• Springfield, CT
— Cheshire
• St. George, UT
— Las Vegas
— Reno, NV
— Hurricane, UT
— Cedar City, UT
— Carson City, UT
• Birmingham, AL
— Birmingham
— Andalusia
• Omaha, NE
— Lenexa, KS
• Louisville, KY
— Louisville
• Racine, WI
— Racine
— Rockford, IL
— Madison, IL
— Milwaukee
— Jackson, WI
— Mequon, WI t
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