Healthcare Companies

Perhaps due to political pressure from opposition groups, a state agency charged with authorizing tax-exempt bond issues has postponed considering a proposed $958 million bond issue by Sutter Health until next year. The delay was lauded by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare West, which often goes head-to-head with Sutter. The group says that it want to push Sutter hard to use the bond proceeds to lower its prices, a legal requirement included in the bond terms. …

Working with academic organizations and biomedical groups, the Cleveland Clinic has gotten a $60 million grant from the state of Ohio to develop a cardiovascular research center. The center will receive a designation allowing it to draw ongoing state financial support in addition to the initial $60 million. The Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center (GCIC) will follow a traditional academic technology transfer model, developing new cardiovascular treatment technologies and spinning off …

Has drugmaker Eli Lilly been promoting the off-label use of antipsychotic Zyprexa for elderly patients with dementia symptoms? According to an investigation by The New York Times, Lilly has been doing just that since late 2000, despite FDA rules to the contrary. Materials given to the NYT outline a campaign called Viva Zyprexa, in which sales reps are told to suggest the drug for older dementia patients. However, such marketing would run afoul of FDA rules, as Zyprexa is …

Perhaps in counter to a recent power grab by large employers, health insurance industry trade group America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association of America have released their own model for a portable personal health record. The new standards call for creating a Web-based personal health records--maintained, not surprisingly, by insurers--that are transportable from one insurance plan to another with little trouble. The records will include …

HealthSouth founder Richard Scrushy (photo) has lost his bid for a new trial on political corruption charges unrelated to the $2.7 billion accounting fraud problem. Both Scrushy and former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman had been found guilty in June of taking part in a bribery scandal, on charges, including conspiracy and mail fraud, …

Better late than never, I guess. Several months after Kaiser Permanente announced its closure, a group that oversees the nation's transplant system has officially condemned the health plan's doomed kidney transplant program. Concluding that Kaiser had denied patient access to transplants and threatened safety for wait-listed patients during 2004 and 2005, the United Network for Organ Sharing yanked the group's "good standing" rating. The move did little to please critics, however, who say …

A partnership running three not-for-profit hospitals in metro Denver is turning over control of the hospitals to the larger partner. The LMC Community Foundation is ceding control of the Exempla Healthcare system, which includes Saint Joseph Hospital, Lutheran Medical Center and Good Samaritan Medical Center, as well as the Exempla Physicians Network. In the deal, which is expected to finalize in mid-2007, Lenexa, KA-based Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System will assume …

After studying their position in the marketplace, executives with Boston-based Caritas Christi Health Care system are looking at merging, selling or giving up control of their operations to a national Catholic chain with more resources. Caritas, a six-hospital network whose facilities include St. Elizabeth's Medical Center of Boston, a tertiary academic teaching hospital affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine, is one of several regional Catholic chains considering a similar …

Sounds like a nasty turf war: The University of Arizona and two private health systems are wrangling over the right to build hospital in a key downtown Phoenix location. Banner Health and U of Arizona want to build a private general hospital, though Maricopa Integrated Health System had been in talks for to build a teaching hospital on the same location. Observers contend that a public teaching hospital is far more needed than a private hospital, particularly as a means of fostering …

Sunrise, FL-based Pediatrix Medical Group has become the latest in a long series of medical and other companies facing major public embarrassment over questionable stock option practices. Pediatrix, which provides of newborn, maternal-fetal and pediatric physician sub-specialty services, employs 890 physicians in 32 states. Following an internal review, the company has concluded that it could end up recording additional compensation expenses of as much as $28 million in charges to …