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Our Members/Our Region

Nashville council heads east (Modern Healthcare Outliers, 11.8.2004)
The Nashville Health Care Council took a different tack with its fifth annual European trade mission. The recently completed trip took a delegation of 25 to two capitals that were behind the Iron Curtain just two decades ago in Prague, Czech Republic, and Budapest, Hungary. Previous missions had been to wealthier, more established countries, such as France, Germany, Great Britain and Spain.


Centerstone program wins Eli Lilly award (Nashville Business Journal, 11.12.2004)
Nashville-based Centerstone has won an award from pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Co. for its ReConnect program, which helps those with mental illness through peer support and educational services.


Profits, enrollment, reserves up at Blues plans (Modern Healthcare, 11.12.2004)
The nation's Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans continued their wildfire profit and enrollment growth during the first half of 2004. According to the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, combined net income for its 41 independent affiliates jumped 32% to $3.7 billion in the six months ended June 30, from $2.7 billion in the year-ago period.


Survey says: Consumers want physician 'ratings' system (Nashville Business Journal, 11.12.2004)
A survey initiated by Nashville-based American Healthways shows that 80 percent of consumers want a "Consumer Reports" type of rating system for physicians in their community.

Related Coverage
BusinessWire, 11.11.2004


Community Health CFO makes $1.3M stock trade (Nashville Business Journal, 11.12.2004)
Community Health Systems chief financial officer Larry Cash has exercised an option to buy and sell 90,000 shares of the company's stock, netting about $1.3 million.


Acquisition costs hit Vanguard earnings in Q1 (Nashville Business Journal, 11.11.2004)
Vanguard's acquisition by the Blackstone Group socked its earnings in the first quarter. The Nashville-based hospital company showed a loss of $110 million in the quarter compared to earnings of $6.3 million in the first quarter a year ago.

Related Coverage
MarketWire, 11.11.2004


Willis names new Nashville office CEO (NashvillePost.com - subscription required, 11.11.2004)
Amid turbulence surrounding the civil suit against New York-based brokerage firm Marsh & McLennan, Brian Morgan has joined Willis Group Holdings as the new CEO of its Nashville office.


BlueCross proposes $200 mil. consolidated office complex (NashvillePost.com - subscription required, 11.11.2004)
BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee has said it wants to consolidate nine of its Chattanooga office buildings into an office complex that would cost a total of $200 million.


LifeFlight proposes relocation of Shelbyville air ambulance base(NashvillePost.com - subscription required, 11.10.2004)
Vanderbilt University’s LifeFlight may move its Shelbyville-based air ambulance to the Tullahoma Regional Airport to better accommodate LifeFlight’s three new aircraft in a location with global positioning satellite (GPS) technology on-site.



HCA Inc. Announces Preliminary Results of Tender Offer (PRNewswire, 11.12.2004)
HCA Inc. (NYSE:HCA) announced today the preliminary results of its modified "Dutch" auction tender offer to purchase up to 61,000,000 shares of the company's common stock, which expired at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on November 11, 2004. Based on the preliminary count by National City Bank, the depositary for the tender offer, approximately 62,568,220 shares of common stock were properly tendered and not withdrawn at a price at or below $39.75 per share, including shares that were tendered through notice of guaranteed delivery. HCA intends to exercise its right to purchase additional shares of common stock without extending the tender offer in accordance with applicable securities laws. Accordingly, HCA expects to purchase an aggregate of approximately 62,568,220 shares at a purchase price of $39.75 per share.


Symbion to Participate in the Credit Suisse First Boston 2004 Healthcare Conference (BusinessWire, 11.12.2004)
Symbion, Inc. (NASDAQ/NM:SMBI), an owner and operator of surgery centers, announced today that it will participate in the Credit Suisse First Boston 2004 Healthcare Conference to be held November 17 - 19, 2004, in Phoenix, Arizona.


Our Industry/Our State

Tennessee Medicaid may carry benefit limits (The Tennessean via HealthLeaders.com, 11.12.2004)
While all the details have yet to be worked out, Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen says his plan for replacing the state TennCare program is to set up a Medicaid program with specific limits on benefits, such as the number of adult hospital stays, doctor visits and prescription drugs each patient can receive. A new Medicaid program would apply to about 900,000 people who will continue to be the state's responsibility even if the bigger umbrella of TennCare is folded.

Related Stories
Health plan for poor near shutdown (Miami Herald, 11.11.2004)
McWherter Fighting To Save TennCare (NewsChannel5, 11.11.2004)



Drug firm shares in slump (Washington Post via HealthLeaders.com, 11.12.2004)
The 40 percent share price slide in Merck & Co. in the five weeks since it pulled the painkiller Vioxx off the market highlights larger problems in the pharmaceutical industry that may depress performance for years, according to academics and stock analysts who follow the sector.



Drug wholesalers change methods (Wall Street Journal (subscription required) via HealthLeaders.com, 11.12.2004)
America's three big drug wholesalers, AmerisourceBergen Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and McKesson Corp., are trying to put an end to their risky business of betting on drug-price increases. And they are asking their suppliers -- the nation's pharmaceutical manufacturers -- for help.


FCG Launches FirstPAS; Hosted Solution for Pended Claims Automation in Health (Business Wire, 11.10.2004)
First Consulting Group (FCG), (NASDAQ: FCGI) today launched a hosted solution for health plans that reduces claims processing costs by as much as 50-75% with minimal upfront investment.

posted by nhcc at 9:23 AM

Call center (The Tennessean, 11.8.2004)
David Koziak, an agent with Grubb & Ellis/Centennial, put his client First Consulting Group into 21,000 square feet of space in one of the buildings in Duke Realty Haywood Oaks flexible office park off Interstate 24 near the Nashville International Airport. Todd Parker with Duke handled the negotiations on the landlord side.

First Consulting is putting in a call center for support work with health-care companies.


Jenkins gets new role with Ardent (The Tennessean, 11.6.2004)
K. Mark Jenkins has been named vice president of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance for Ardent Health Services and will be in charge of making sure the company meets the requirements of that corporate-governance law.


Healthy outlook? HealthSouth CEO learns to grin, bear good, bad news (Birmingham News, 11.10.2004)
HealthSouth Corp.'s new boss said Tuesday the Birmingham-based company is on the road to recovery, but it will take three or four more years to fully recover from an accounting scandal that triggered federal investigations.

Jay Grinney, hired as HealthSouth's chief executive in May, told the Birmingham Kiwanis Club during a Harbert Center luncheon that despite progress he has seen during six months at the helm, it will take at least three to four years "to get this company to where I feel it needs to be."


Advocat dips back to loss in Q3 (Nashville Business Journal, 11.10.2004)
Franklin-based Advocat Inc. earnings were up in the third quarter, but again the company dipped to a loss.


Essent's Missouri hospital affiliates with St. Louis facility (Nashville Business Journal, 11.10.2004)
Essent Healthcare Inc.'s Crossroads Regional Medical Center in Wentzville, Mo., has signed an affiliation agreement with St. John's Mercy Medical Center in St. Louis.


American Healthways makes Forbes 200 list (Nashville Business Journal, 11.10.2004)
Nashville-based American Healthways Inc. has made its first appearance on the Forbes 200 Best Small Companies list and has been included in the inaugural Baseline 500.


Iasis buys 47 acres in Arizona for $8.3M (Nashville Business Journal, 11.10.2004)
Franklin-based Iasis Healthcare is the new owner of a 47-acre parcel of undeveloped land in Mesa, Ariz.


American HomePatient COO quitting in March (Nashville Business Journal, 11.10.2004)
The chief operating officer of Brentwood-based American HomePatient Inc. is leaving the company.


Decreased expenses lead to NHR earnings rise (Nashville Business Journal, 11.9.2004)
Revenues were down for Murfreesboro-based National Health Realty Inc. in the third quarter, but decreased expenses kept the real estate investment trust on an upward earnings trend.


Gambro latest dialysis company to get DOJ subpoena (Nashville Business Journal, 11.9.2004)
Swedish dialysis company Gambro has received a subpoena from the U.S. Justice Department as part of an investigation into the use of tests and drugs for kidney disease patients, according to Reuters.

Gambro, which employs about 350 in the Middle Tennessee area, is the latest dialysis company to receive such a subpoena.


Caremark's Crawford cashes in $8.9M of stock (Nashville Business Journal, 11.9.2004)
Mac Crawford, CEO of Nashville-based Caremark Rx Inc., last week sold a block of company stock that netted him about $8.9 million.


Spheris’ lead investor sells stake (NashvillePost.com, 11.11.2004, subscription required)
Parthenon Capital, the majority shareholder of Franklin-based medical transcription company Spheris has sold its stake in the company to Warburg Pincus and Soros Private Equity.

Terms of the recapitalization transaction were not disclosed. The company’s management team, led by President and Chief Executive Steven Simpson, also will invest in Spheris and continue to lead operations, according to the company.


Consumers Doubt Bonus Pay Will Improve Physician Performance; National Poll Addresses Trend in Physician Incentives, Patient Outcomes - an American Healthways Survey (BusinessWire, 11.11.2004)
As government and commercial health plans throughout the country increasingly look to physician bonus programs to help drive improved health-care quality, a national poll released today found that 70 percent of consumers don't believe such programs would result in better quality, yet 80 percent said they would like to see a "Consumer Reports" type of rating of physicians in their community.

The survey - commissioned by American Healthways (Nasdaq: AMHC) to inform this year's Johns Hopkins/American Healthways Annual Physicians Meeting and Outcomes Summit, "Outcomes-Based Compensation: Pay-for-Performance Design Principles" - queried 1,223 adults with health insurance on a number of issues related to the topic of physician pay-for-performance. Of those surveyed, 43 percent reported having some form of chronic disease, 78 percent received their health insurance through an employer, 11 percent were covered by Medicare or Medicaid and 11 percent were self-insured. Margin of error for the poll is +/-2.9%.


HCA Announces One-Day Extension of Tender Offer for Shares of Common Stock to November 11, 2004 (PR Newswire, 11.11.2004)
HCA (NYSE: HCA - News) announced today that it is extending for one day the expiration date of its previously announced tender offer to purchase up to 61,000,000 shares of its common stock to 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on November 11, 2004. The tender period is being extended for one day at the request of the New York Stock Exchange to accommodate the double day settlement created by the Veterans' Day holiday.


Vanguard Reports First Quarter Results (MarketWire, 11.11.2004)
Vanguard Health Systems, Inc. (the "Company" or "Vanguard") today announced results for the first quarter ended September 30, 2004.

On September 23, 2004, affiliates of The Blackstone Group ("Blackstone") completed the purchase of a majority of the equity interests in the Company pursuant to a previously announced merger agreement. As a result of the transaction, Vanguard has a new parent company, VHS Holdings LLC ("Holdings"), the equity of which, along with the equity of Vanguard, is approximately 66% owned by Blackstone. Blackstone financed its $494.9 million equity investment with cash. Morgan Stanley Capital Partners rolled over $130.0 million of its existing Vanguard shares for an approximate 17% equity interest. Management and other investors purchased the remaining 17% equity interest by contributing existing Vanguard shares and/or utilizing cash proceeds from the merger.


Hospital brings 'wellness' to rural setting (Health Facilities Management, 11.11.2004)
St. Peter Community Hospital, which has served St. Peter, Minn., for more than 65 years, needed a new facility to replace the aging 1950s-era, city-owned hospital. Hospital administrators faced a choice: Rebuild on the existing site with little room for expansion or relocate to a new site north of the city. Aside from wanting more room, administrators wanted to ensure patient safety without stale, cold patient rooms. They also wanted to create a hospital where staff could be more efficient and satisfied with their work.

Eventually, the decision was made to move to the new site, situated on 28 acres of open land. The acreage provided ample growth opportunity for a planned dietary department, a medical office building and a long-term care facility. St. Peter CEO Colleen Spike was determined to build a hospital that met the current needs of the St. Peter population and would easily accommodate emerging health care technologies.

St. Peter opened the doors to its $15.6 million facility in August, and it is home to a couple "firsts": It is the first hospital in Minnesota to be built under the new International Building Code and the first hospital in the country to incorporate Nashville, Tenn.-based

Bredesen puts deadline on TennCare cuts or he will begin dismantling program
In a high-stakes match with health insurance for 430,000 Tennesseans on the table, TennCare advocates have one more card to play before Gov. Phil Bredesen folds his hand and does away with the state's troubled TennCare program.

That card, which Bredesen gives a 1-in-5 chance, is last-minute talks with the attorney he says is trying to block the cost-saving changes that are needed to save TennCare.

''It's not 50-50. It's a 20% chance'' that a compromise can be reached, Bredesen said yesterday, hours after he announced he would end TennCare unless a deal could be reached with enrollee advocates in seven days.
The governor, who had hoped to maintain TennCare with capped benefits, yesterday spoke of how his wife had taught him to ''play the hand that you get dealt,'' and said he had little choice but to dismantle the state's decade-old experiment with universal health care.

''TennCare was, and is, a wonderful dream,'' Bredesen said. ''It appears this morning that the dream is over.''

Related coverage
Governor Bredesen's Press Remarks on TennCare (pdf)
Some TennCare recipients vent anger on advocate (The Tennessean, 11.11.2004)
Questions about TennCare (The Tennessean, 11.11.2004)
The history of TennCare (The Tennessean, 11.11.2004)
How the loss of TennCare will affect … Taxpayers (The Tennessean, 11.11.2004)
Tennesee governor ends 'noble' TennCare (HealthLeaders.com, 11.11.2004)
TennCare gets a week (Nashville City Paper, 11.11.2004)
Bredesen starts dissolving TennCare program (NashvillePost.com, 11.11.2004, subscription required)

posted by nhcc at 11:02 AM

Symbion buys majority interest in two facilities (The Tennessean)
Symbion Inc. said it acquired majority interest in two surgery centers in Alabama.


People in business (The Tennessean)
Health care
Charles Spann has been named sales manager at Storage Systems Unlimited, a Cool Springs-based provider of storage and other medical equipment, and source vendor for Healthtrust Purchasing Group in Brentwood. Previously CAD manager and project manager, Spann will oversee the company's project managers in his new role.

Jeffrey S. Marwill is vice president of operations at SPI Healthcare Documentation, the medical transcription unit of SPI Technologies. Marwill was a senior project manager with Ardent Health Services in Nashville, where he was involved in several of the company's IT management projects. The Nashville-based company delivers round-the-clock medical transcription services to health-care organizations across North America through its Global MT Network.

Passport Health Communications Inc. in Franklin has announced these staff changes:
Alecia Talbott, previously director of client services for Edge Healthcare Research Inc., is responsible for inside sales.

Becky Sargent has been named marketing director.

Robert Coletti of Hermitage has been named regional sales director with AmeriPlan Corp.-a Plano, Texas-based provider of discounted health benefits.


N.M. Blue Cross wins Ardent contract (Nashville Business Journal)
Ardent Health Services has awarded a contract to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico to administer the health plan for the hospital owner's employees.

Related stories:
MSNBC


American Healthways picks up URAC accreditation (Nashville Business Journal)
Nashville-based American Healthways Inc., a provider of disease management programs, has received accreditation from the Utilization Review Accreditation Commission for its programs on diabetes, congestive heart failure, coronary artery and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Related stories:
Business Wire


Caremark’s Crawford nets $8.9 million in options transactions (NashvillePost.com)
Mac Crawford, chairman, president and chief executive of Caremark Rx (CMX), has netted more than $8.9 million on the exercise of 292,600 stock options and the subsequent sale of those shares, according to a Form 4 filed with the SEC Monday.


NY Times names Bredesen a presidential contender (NashvillePost.com)
A Sunday New York Times article names Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen as one possible Democratic presidential candidate in 2008.

The article reasons that recent presidential candidate John Kerry’s voting record in the Senate hampered his presidential run; therefore a sitting governor is best positioned to win back the White House for the Democrats in four years.

The full article is available (here) (New York Times)


Atlanta hospital entrepreneur McAfee dies (NashvillePost.com)
James McAfee Jr., former chairman and president of Hallmark Healthcare Corp., died Wednesday in an Atlanta hospital after suffering a heart attack, according to Modern Healthcare.


New hospital moves forward in Scottsdale (MSNBC)
Scottsdale Healthcare (Arizona) is moving forward with plans to build a hospital in North Scottsdale that is expected to create 500 jobs.

The health system hired Nashville-based Earl Swenson & Associates, which designed Mayo Hospital three miles away from the proposed Scottsdale Healthcare Thompson Peak Hospital site near Scottsdale Road and Loop 101. A general contractor is expected to be selected within the next few months, said Tom Sadvary, recently selected as chief executive of Scottsdale Healthcare to replace Max Poll, who is retiring.


Caremark Rx to Present at the CIBC World Markets Fifteenth Annual Healthcare Conference (Business Wire)
Caremark Rx, Inc. (NYSE: CMX) today announced its intention to present at the upcoming CIBC World Markets Fifteenth Annual Healthcare Conference. The presentation is scheduled for Wednesday, November 10, 2004, at The Plaza Hotel in New York City. An audio presentation will be broadcast live via the Internet.


Gibson General Hospital Goes Digital with the Evolved Solution (Evolved Digital Systems website, press release and Nashville Business Journal, print edition)



OUR INDUSTRY/OUR STATE

Bredesen to decide soon about TennCare future (WTLV)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. Governor Bredesen says he will have to decide this month whether to continue trying to reshape TennCare by limiting benefits or choose instead to cut enrollment.

posted by nhcc at 3:45 PM