Today's
Headlines
Distributor News
PDS hires Read as exec VP Sales
Sterile Recoveries change name to SRI/Surgical Express
Manufacturer News
Cardiac Science withdraws Takeover Bid
Hill-Rom names Waaser President and CEO
Imatron announces retirement of Ross as President
Dot Com News
AuctionMart gets contract with HSCA
elcom and RedSalsa form alliance to provide eProcurement Solutions
Providers and Provider Services News
CA Hospitals seek Rescuer
NorthWorks Becomes North Memorial Clinic Occupational Health
ARV names Management Changes
OH to regulate out-of-state Telemedicine Providers
Hospital PPI picks up in 2000
Stock Watch
-back to top-
| Distributor News |
PDS
hires Read as exec VP Sales
Physician Diagnostic Services, a
diagnostic services distributor based in Atlanta, Ga. added to its
leadership team by hiring Ed Read as its executive vice president of
Sales & Marketing. Mr. Read will put his more that 15 years of
manufacturing and distribution experience to work bringing sales &
marketing solutions to PDS. PDS is a Transtelephonic diagnostic
services company. It is currently in the acute care and non acute care
markets. PDS connects the physician to his or her patients cardiac
testing results quickly and efficiently. For more information visit
there web sight at PDSHEART.COM. Effective January 1, 2001, Sterile
Recoveries, Inc. changed its name to SRI/Surgical Express, Inc. The name
change is effective with Nasdaq on January 15, 2001. The Company
believes the name 'Sterile Recoveries' implied a focus on reusable
products and that the new name better reflects the Company's increasing
focus on its comprehensive 'Surgical Express' service program. SRI/Surgical Express, Inc. provides
hospitals with a daily delivery and retrieval service that furnishes
reusable and disposable products and devices used in surgical
procedures. The Company serves hospital customers in 24 states from 11
reprocessing facilities, one disposable products facility, and 16
distribution centers located throughout the United States.
| Manufacturer News |
Cardiac
Science withdraws Takeover Bid
Cardiac Science Inc. said Thursday it has
withdrawn its bid to acquire Spacelabs Medical Inc., citing a
lack of interest from the Redmond, WA-based maker of patient-monitoring
devices and clinical information systems. Spacelabs Medical, Inc. announced that it
received a letter and press release from Cardiac Science withdrawing
their prior proposal to acquire the stock of Spacelabs and to propose a
slate of alternative directors for the company. In these documents
Cardiac Science incorrectly attributed their action to a lack of
response by Spacelabs. As announced several weeks ago, Spacelabs
has retained UBS Warburg to explore its strategic alternatives.
In that connection and while there had been no decision to sell the
company, Spacelabs' investment bankers at UBS Warburg, with the
authorization of the Spacelabs Board of Directors, contacted the Chief
Executive Officer of Cardiac Science directly and requested that Cardiac
Science provide evidence it could finance a cash acquisition of the
company. Hillenbrand Industries Inc.
announced the appointment of R. Ernest Waaser to the position of
president and chief executive officer of Hill-Rom Inc., its health care
operating company, effective January 22, 2001. Previously, Waaser, 44,
was senior vice president of AGFA Corporation and president of
AGFA's Medical Imaging Division. Hillenbrand, headquartered in Batesville,
IN, is a publicly traded holding company for three major wholly owned
businesses serving the funeral services and health care industries. Imatron Inc. announced that Terry Ross
has retired as President of Imatron and remains as a member of the board
focused on Strategic Business Development. Imatron Inc. is primarily
engaged in designing, manufacturing, marketing, and supporting high
performance electron beam tomography (EBT) scanners based on the
Company's proprietary EBT technology.
| Dot Com News |
AuctionMart
gets contract with HSCA
HSCA members now have access to online
auction services for buying and selling used equipment after a recent
three-year agreement with AuctionMart.com (Bryan, TX). One of the
benefits of using AuctionMart.com is the equipment extranet site. The
extranet allows hospitals within a system to preview equipment scheduled
for replacement at other system hospitals during the fiscal year, before
the equipment is removed or sold. Each system facility has the
opportunity to reserve equipment listed instead of purchasing a new
model, thereby saving a healthcare system vitally needed capital
dollars. This three-year agreement started December 1, 2000. elcom, inc., the wholly-owned
eProcurement and eMarketplace solutions subsidiary of Elcom
International, Inc., announced the formation of a strategic alliance
with RedSalsa, a NJ based healthcare technology consulting and solutions
provider, under which RedSalsa will be able to provide its customers and
prospects an eProcurement and eMarketplace solution remotely-hosted by
elcom. RedSalsa (http://www.redsalsa.com/)
which currently employs approximately 300 consultants in the U.S., is
exclusively dedicated to supporting enterprise-wide transitions from
legacy operations to the latest digital economies. By being the brokers
and facilitators of change, RedSalsa assists customers in utilizing the
power of the Web to provide legacy system integration and web-enablement,
supply chain automation and procurement solutions, and business process
enhancement. Elcom International, Inc. (http://www.elcominternational.com/),
through its wholly-owned subsidiary, elcom, inc., is the global leader
of remotely-hosted eProcurement and eMarketplace solutions.
CA
Hospitals seek Rescuer
Two Los Angeles-area members of Carondelet Health System, St.
Louis, are seeking a buyout or merger partner. A Carondelet spokesman
said the system is committed to keeping open the two hospitals, 360-bed Daniel
Freeman Memorial Hospital, Inglewood, and 138-bed Daniel Freeman
Memorial Hospital, Venice. The hospitals' combined losses totaled $9
million during their first quarter of fiscal 2001, ended Sept. 30. They
lost $12 million throughout fiscal 2000. NorthWorks, North Memorial's occupational health provider, will kick
off 2001 with a new name: North Memorial Clinic - Occupational Health.
The change is intended to improve awareness of the existing relationship
between NorthWorks and North Memorial Medical Center. The name
change will not affect the clinic's two current locations -- Robbinsdale
Town Center, and WestHealth. For years, the clinic's team of experienced physicians, therapists
and nurses has provided large and small businesses with comprehensive
health services such as work-related injury and illness treatment,
preplacement physicals, work site medical testing and drug screenings to
name a few. Additionally, they often provide consultation for businesses
on health concerns in the workplace. The team is presently preparing to
help their customers comply with the new OSHA Ergonomics Standard
established in November. North Memorial Health Care is a not-for-profit health care
organization located in Robbinsdale, MN. In addition to its two
occupational health clinics, North Memorial operates six primary care
clinics and North Memorial Medical Center, a Level I Trauma
Center. ARV Assisted Living Inc. announced that Abdo H. Khoury
has been named president, effective Jan. 1, 2001. ARV also announced that William R. Eason has been named senior
vice president of sales and marketing, Michelle Alarcon has been
promoted to senior vice president of human resources and Christine
Kasulka has been promoted to vice president of operations. Founded in 1980, ARV is one of the nation's largest operators of
assisted living communities, operating 57 communities containing 6,758
units in 11 states. Out-of-state physicians regularly using electronic means to treat
patients in Ohio soon will have to get a special telemedicine
certificate from the Ohio State Medical Board to continue,
according to a new law the Ohio General Assembly has passed. The
legislation will take effect 90 days after the governor signs it. The Ohio Hospital Association reported that the law defines
telemedicine as the use of electronic or other communication
technologies to provide clinical care at a distance. Professional
standards require the medical staff of an organization to define which
services are appropriately delivered via telemedicine. If the
out-of-state practitioner provides clinical treatment, he or she must
have credentials from the in-state organization using telemedicine
service for its patients. Acute-care hospitals' net revenue grew 3.7% last year, more than
twice the 1999 growth of 1.6%, according to the Labor Department's
year-end Producer Price Index. Both inpatient and outpatient
revenue from private payers increased 4.3% last year, suggesting
providers are extracting better payments from insurers. The PPI measures changes in net revenue collected by hospitals. Medicare
inpatient revenue grew 1.8% last year, while Medicaid inpatient
revenue increased 4.1%. Overall, hospital revenue from outpatient
treatments rose 4% last year, compared with 1.5% in 1999.
Providers and Provider Services
News
Is
your email program having difficulty displaying the html format?
Switch to our Text Only version! Need to change email addresses or
discontinue service? Want to know how to submit press releases? Make
all your changes online at http://www.medicaldistribution.com/daile/current.htm.
For complete stories, contact our editor, Tom
Deckert, at tomdeckert627@aol.com.
For thought-provoking articles on the trends in the industry, read the
online version of Repertoire’s Magazine on our website: www.medicaldistribution.com.