Healthcare Companies

State prosecutors are convening a grand jury to hear testimony on whether a former public health commissioner steered District business to a firm that had retained him. The North Broward Hospital District, which operates four public hospitals and a dozen clinics, is funded by real estate taxes on residents in northern Broward county. The clinics and hospital are charged with caring for the uninsured. In 2002 Dorsey Miller, a prominent Republican activist and former school district …

When 76-year-old Roy Lee Jr. got a letter from a hospital telling his family that he had died, he thought it was funny--until he stopped getting his Social Security payments. The letter, while not quite up there with removing the wrong limb from a patient, was an embarrassing slip for Melbourne, FL-based health system Health First. To be fair, the problem was really the fault of the Social Security Administration, which killed off Mr. Lee with a clerical error. The real fun began when …

Despite its having been "scrubbed," a laptop formerly belonging to Intermountain Health Care apparently still contained a file with personnel data on 6,000 employees who worked for Intermountain in 1999. The provider's human-resources department donated an old laptop to a charity, and somehow, no one realized that the file was still accessible on the laptop's hard drive. The rogue file provided information of great potential value to an identity thief, including names, social security …

In a move expected to further sap inner-city healthcare resources in Los Angeles, the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science has decided to close its 34-year-old residency program. Among other problems, the university is having trouble securing funds to pay its 251 residents' salaries. It has also been unable to find long-term accreditation for the residents, who had been in training at the city's Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center. …

If Roche has its way, a gaggle of happy penguins will charm consumers into stocking up on flu drug Tamiflu. Using penguin characters from a current children's feature as a theme, Roche Pharmaceuticals has developed a multi-million dollar ad campaign to create demand for the costly medication. Tamiflu, which has attracted international attention as a possible stopgap in the war against …

An investment group led by two pediatricians appears to have finalized an agreement to purchase of San Diego's troubled Alvarado Hospital Medical Center. Tenet Healthcare is unloading Alvarado with little time to spare. Alvarado will lose access to Medicare and Medi-Cal patients soon if the hospital isn't in new hands. Alvarado administrators faced multiple criminal and civil cases charging that they used relocation money to pay off doctors who sent patients to the hospital, but federal …

The planned sale of an Atlanta-area hospital has been postponed until the end of 2006, as hospital administrators work to provide the Federal Trade Commission with the more than 10 years of physician and patient utilization data the agency has requested. While the proposed sale of 143-bed Newnan Hospital to Piedmont Healthcare has gotten approval from the state's attorney general, the FTC has expressed concern about the deal, given that Newnan is the only hospital in Coweta County. …

Chicago-area hospital operator Resurrection Health Care has been found by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to have stifled union organizing activities, and to settle those charges, has agreed to make extra efforts to inform workers of their right to unionize. The union seeking to organize Resurrection workers, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, filed charges with the NLRB complaining that the hospital was actively discouraging employees from …

A popular nerve-testing device is raising concerns among some critics, who say that the potential for profiting from its use may be putting patients at risk. NC-stat, made by small medical device firm Neurometrix, is designed to test patients for nerve disease. Medicare will pay for tests done with the NC-stat, which costs about $5,000. NC-stat is used largely by general practitioners, who say that they want to help patients get to the root of their problems quickly. But neurologists …

Houston's Texas Children's Hospital (TCH) has announced plans for a $1.5 billion expansion, including plans for a $220 million, 96-bed suburban hospital, a $215 million neurological research institute and a $575 million maternity center. This is taking place despite the fact that the dust is still settling on TCH's last expansion, a $345 million effort which closed in 2004. The expansion, which should be completed by 2010, involves the largest short-term investment by a children's …