Healthcare Companies

While it's not clear how, if at all, this might have affected his performance, it's beginning to look like a personal relationship may have lead to WellPoint CFO David Colby's ouster. Only days after a California woman filed suit against him, claiming that he had promised to give her his $4 million mansion, Colby was out the door. Colby is still married to his second wife, though he's engaged in …

Beefing up its Medicaid managed care offerings, Aetna has acquired Phoenix, AZ-based Medicaid management firm Schaller Anderson for $535 million. Schaller Anderson serves more than 1.3 million beneficiaries and manages more than $3 billion in benefits. It has about 1,800 employees in nine states. The company was started by Joseph Anderson and Dr. Don Schaller, who founded the company more than 20 years ago after helping to create Arizona's Medicaid program. The buy follows a previous deal …

Now comes the moment where the dollars extracted from the tobacco industry can do some good. Using funds from its tobacco industry settlement, the state of Pennsylvania has awarded research grants to 23 area hospitals, research groups and other area healthcare organizations. The grants include substantial funding to a number of hospitals, including the University of Pennsylvania, which got $8.47 million, Thomas Jefferson University, which got $3.7 million and Children's Hospital of …

Since a New England Journal of Medicine article came out strongly questioning the cardiac safety of its diabetes drug Avandia, GlaxoSmithKline has taken a beating, with its stock declining a substantial 11 percent over eight days. Now Glaxo has come back swinging, arguing that the furor is overblown. Glaxo's chief medical officer, Ronald Krall, has just published a letter in The Lancet arguing that Avandia is as safe as other diabetes drugs. In the letter, Krall notes …

WellPoint's finance chief has been pushed out of the company, accused of unspecified financial improprieties. Effective immediately, WellPoint senior vice president and chief accounting officer Wayne DeVeydt will take over as executive vice president and CFO. The company demanded that CFO David Colby resign after it concluded that Colby had violated the company's code of conduct. This came despite Colby's having been promoted only two months ago to vice chairman.

The company …

In the awake of articles suggesting that diabetes drug Avandia could be dangerous, critics have slammed the agency, suggesting that it should have responded to danger signs long ago. Now the agency is slamming back. The Cleveland Clinic cardiologist whose research created a furor over Avandia now says that an FDA spokesman has targeted him for a smear campaign. In an e-mail message sent to health reporters, FDA communications consultant Douglas Arbesfeld accuses Dr. Steven Nissen of …

Senior care giant Sunrise Senior Living has become the target of a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into possible insider stock sales, stock-option grant issues and accounting problems. As of the end of the first quarter of 2007, Sunrise operated 444 senior living communities in the U.S., Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom, as well as having 42 others under construction. The SEC inquiry was prompted in part by a letter from the SEIU Master Trust, the national pension …

In the past, HealthSouth may have gotten some of the industry's worst publicity, but execs are working to put that all behind them. A group of HealthSouth leaders are now making the rounds pitching their new expansion plans, which dictate opening five to eight new inpatient rehab facilities each year. The rehab and ambulatory surgery services provider expects to grow by acquiring facilities, consolidation in existing markets and partnerships. Most recently, it opened a 40-bed inpatient …

In an effort to get physicians psyched over drugs soon to hit the market, pharmaceutical companies often give physicians advance notice about pending releases, usually well in advance of major medical trade shows. The pharmas protect the news by making physicians sign confidentiality agreements, but despite the agreements, it appears that the physicians often tattle anyway. Increasingly, regulators have noticed that biotech company stocks fluctuate wildly prior to these conferences, …

National pharmacy chain Walgreen Co. has agreed to acquire retail clinic operator and partner Take Care Health Systems. The deal positions Walgreen to compete better with CVS/Caremark, which previously acquired retail clinic operator MinuteClinic. Take Care, which operates 50 clinics across the U.S., already runs some clinics at Walgreens locations. Walgreens will use the acquisition to power its upcoming retail clinic expansion. The chain plans to have more than 400 "Health Corner …