For the most current ABL Healthcare Online 
and access to ABL.org, go to
 http://www.abl.org/new/html/resources_news_hc.asp

 -- Click on Titles Below to Go to News Item --

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS!

Hilary Hellman, Ancillary Care Solutions
Margaret Sabin, Sutter Health Partners

ABL Members Honored and Awarded
Abraxis Forms Joint Venture, Gets FDA OK
Aperio Supports TIFF Standard for Very Large Files
HeartMath CEO Authors Articles on Conquering Stress
Hythiam & Isotis Awarded New Patents
Keenan Surveys Healthcare Industry on Benefits
Newport Partners with Premier for Ventilators
PCG Improves Cost Containment Software
Prime Clinical  Achieves CCHIT Certification
TOMR Details Hospital Emergency Services Requirements

HEALTHCARE TRENDS

Business Coalition Sets Sights on Universal Health Insurance
California Faces $47.9 Billion in Retiree Healthcare Costs
Study: U.S. Healthcare Costs More, Less Effective

HEALTHCARE & GOVERNMENT

Nunez & Perata Release Figures for Their Plans
Who's Kerry Weems? Unknown to Many

In each issue of ABL Healthcare Online leading up to the Ninth Annual Innovations in Healthcare^SM Awards Event on June 6th, we are profiling this year's honorees; today meet ev3 Neurovascular; Acclarent, Inc.; and U.S. Medical Instruments, Inc. >>

Click here to register and/or get more information on the Wednesday, June 6th Awards Event in Newport Beach, which will honor and award companies that are offering some of the most innovative Value-Driven Healthcare solutions to significant challenges facing the industry today.    

Hilary Hellman, Ancillary Care Solutions
Hilary Hellman is a Founder and Principal of Ancillary Care Solutions (ACS), which develops and manages physician-based ancillary services, with a focus on physical and occupational therapy, urgent care, technology and specialty programs. Hilary runs 16 sites in California and 3 in Arizona. Companywide, ACS is in 20 states. In five years, it has grown into one of the largest managers of outpatient physical therapy services in the U.S. Among other ventures, ACS is currently coordinating the formation of a network of orthopaedic groups to provide urgent care services as an alternative to ER care. Hilary's background includes being sole owner of a company that specialized in the contracting, marketing, licensing, service delivery and management of rehabilitation services in acute hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies and specialty outpatient clinics, as well as COO of a national healthcare management company responsible for the licensing, training, reimbursement, clinical services and ongoing management of 150 free-standing rehab facilities in over 30 states. Referred to ABL by Eileen Goodis, Pharm.D., of Walgreens Home Care, Hilary has joined the Los Angeles Round Table.


Margaret Sabin, Sutter Health Partners
Margaret Sabin is CEO of Sutter Health Partners and VP of New Product Development for Sutter Health system, a not-for-profit network of 28 hospitals with affiliated clinics and physician organizations based primarily in Northern California. Sutter Health Partners delivers integrated employee benefit programs to self-insured employers, focusing on the individual employer's needs, from plan design to full service administration and management. By fostering its members' personal involvement with interactive health tools, tips for managing common disease states, online health videos and, particularly, its one-on-one coaching to identify and mitigate health risks, Sutter Health Partners effectively assists organizations in moderating their healthcare costs. Previously, Margaret was CEO of Marin Community Health, which included Marin General Hospital and Novato Community Hospital; CEO of Steamboat Springs Health Care Association and Swedish Medical Center, both in Colorado; and VP for EMS and Trauma for HealthONE Corporation, one of the largest healthcare systems in Colorado. Named one of the Bay Area’s 100 Most Influential Women in Business by the San Francisco Business Times for two consecutive years, and referred to ABL by Bruce Cryer of HeartMath and Walter Kopp of The Physicians Foundation at CPMC, Margaret has joined the Northern California Round Table.
 

ABL Members Honored and Awarded

I-Flow, where Don Earhart is CEO, won an AeA High-Tech Innovation Award in the Medical Device category for its SilverSoaker Catheter. Also, I-Flow and Don (pictured above) were profiled recently in the Orange County Register.  Meanwhile, Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD, CEO of Abraxis BioScience, was among this year's 100 recipients of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, recognized for his efforts in scientific innovation.  Genentech, where Art Small, MD is a senior executive, was ranked #23 overall and #2 in the healthcare industry on BusinessWeek's "100 Most Innovative Companies" list, while FORTUNE ranked the company #31 on its "100 Top MBA Employers" list.  Legacy Health System (and its five hospitals), where Lee Domanico is CEO, received the 2007 H2E Sustained Environmental Leadership Award from Hospitals for a Healthy Environment.  Vocera Communications, where Brent Lang is Acting CEO, received a 2006 Product of the Year Award from Technology Marketing Corporation’s Communications Solutions. 

Abraxis Forms Joint Venture, Gets FDA OK
Abraxis BioScience, where Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD, is CEO, has agreed to a joint venture with Cenomed, Inc. to create Cenomed BioSciences, to further the R&D of novel drugs that interact with the central nervous system focused on psychiatric and neurological diseases. Abraxis also recently received FDA approvals for Clindamycin Injection, USP, the generic equivalent of Pfizer's Cleocin.

Aperio Now Supports TIFF Standard for Very Large Files
Aperio Technologies, where Dirk Soenksen is CEO, has implemented support for BigTIFF (Tagged Image File Format) for files larger than 4 gigabytes across all of its digital pathology products and systems. Aperio has donated these enhancements to the public domain, and is working with the TIFF standards body to incorporate them into a future standard release. As a demonstration of the new capabilities, Aperio has created the world's first terapixel image (1 trillion pixels).

HeartMath CEO Authors Articles on Conquering Stress
Bruce Cryer, CEO of HeartMath LLC, is writing a series of three articles for Future Healthcare Journal, in which he reviews new tools and technology to reverse the increasing impact of stress on all aspects of healthcare performance − from staff retention and employee satisfaction, to patient satisfaction and quality.

Hythiam & Isotis Awarded New Patents 
Hythiam, Inc., where Richard Anderson is Senior Executive VP, has received an Australian patent for the intellectual property underlying its PROMETA Protocol for alcohol dependence. Meanwhile, IsoTis, Inc., where Pieter Wolters is CEO, has been awarded a patent related to its Reverse Phase Medium carrier technology.

Keenan Surveys Healthcare Industry on Benefits
Keenan HealthCare, where Steve Richter is a senior executive, has released the findings of its 2007 Health Care Strategy Survey, which reviews the status of healthcare benefits within the healthcare industry.

Newport Partners with Premier for Ventilators
Newport Medical Instruments, where Hong-Lin Du, MD is President, has signed a contract with Premier, Inc. for distribution of its Newport HT50 Ventilator. Premier has over 1,500 hospitals and over 42,000 other healthcare sites under contract.

PCG Improves Cost Containment Software 
PCG Software, where Andria Jacobs is COO, has released a major upgrade of its Virtual Examiner software -- the number of claims that a healthcare payer can process has nearly doubled to 233,000 lines per hour, and it now allows users to create charts to graphically represent their data. 

Prime Clinical  Achieves CCHIT Certification 
Prime Clinical Systems, where Richard Deits, MD is COO, announced that its Patient Chart Manager product has been certified by the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology and meets CCHIT ambulatory electronic health record criteria.

TOMR Details Hospital Emergency Services Requirements 
Theodora Oringher Miller & Richman PC, where Dale Miller, JD is a Principal, has published a Health Care Legal Update: CMS Clarifies Hospital Emergency Services Requirements.

HEALTHCARE TRENDS

Business Coalition Sets Sights on Universal Health Insurance
A new coalition of 36 large businesses – founded by Innovations in Healthcare^SM keynoter Steve Burd, Chairman and CEO of Safeway – has launched a political campaign to promote universal healthcare in California and nationwide. The group includes 18 of the Fortune 500's largest companies, as well as insurance companies and drug manufacturers. Its members collectively employ 1.7 million workers. In its statement of principles, the coalition wrote, "By next year, the average Fortune 500 firm will have a healthcare bill that exceeds its net income." The group is endorsing two central concepts in Governor Schwarzenegger's plan: requiring all residents to obtain health insurance and expanding financial subsidies to low-income residents to help provide coverage. Burd recently wrote in a Washington Times opinion piece that "healthcare reform must happen before 2009." (Washington Times, L.A. Times, 5/7/07)

California Faces $47.9 Billion in Retiree Healthcare Costs
California faces an unfunded liability of $47.9 billion over the next 30 years to fund healthcare benefits for current and future state retirees, according to a report from State Controller John Chiang. However, he said that the future obligation could be reduced to $31.3 billion and that the state could meet all benefit payments to retirees if the state begins setting aside $2.6 billion annually in an investment trust. If the state takes no action, taxpayers would have to contribute $3.6 billion annually to cover the cost of public retirees' healthcare benefits. Statewide, school districts, community colleges and local governments could face more than $90 billion in retiree healthcare costs, according to estimates by Keenan & Associates. (Sacramento Bee, 5/8/07)

Study: U.S. Healthcare Costs More, Less Effective
The U.S. healthcare system is the most expensive in the world, and it yields worse results than the systems in Britain, Canada, Germany, Australia and New Zealand - all of which have universal health insurance, according to a report from the Commonwealth Fund. Total U.S. healthcare spending by government, employers, insurance and individuals averaged $6,102 per person in 2004 -- more than the average spent on individuals in every other country after adjusting for the local cost of living. The report's authors said that U.S. residents with below-average incomes were more likely than their counterparts in other countries to not have received needed care because of cost. The report found that Britain had the best system in "quality care, access, efficiency, equity and healthy lives" and that it spends less per person than the U.S. or Canada. (Bloomberg/Detroit Free Press, 5/16/07)

HEALTHCARE & GOVERNMENT

Nunez & Perata Release Figures for Their Plans
Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez (D-L.A.) and Senate President Pro Tempore Don Perata (D-Oakland) recently said their respective proposals to overhaul California's healthcare system largely would be funded by a mandatory 7.5% contribution from most businesses. The proposed contribution is nearly double the rate in Gov. Schwarzenegger's (R) proposal, but Núñez's office pointed out that a recent Rand Corporation study found that businesses that already provide health insurance spend an average of 13.8% of payroll on coverage. The Los Angeles Times reports that 233,000 businesses in California that employ a total of 4.5 million workers spend less than 7.5% of payroll on coverage; and 327,000 businesses that employ 1.5 million employees do not contribute to employee healthcare benefits. (San Jose Mercury News, 5/15; Ventura County Star & L.A. Times, 5/16/07)

Who's Kerry Weems? Unknown to Many
President Bush's nominee to head CMS is unfamiliar among some healthcare lobbyists, who say Kerry Weems' lack of policymaking experience raises questions about his views on policy and political matters. Weems since 2005 has served as deputy chief of staff to HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt. Weems previously worked on budget issues at HHS through four administrations. The position of CMS administrator has grown increasingly political. In addition to overseeing the agency's estimated $600 billion budget, Weems also will serve as a spokesperson for Bush's healthcare policies. (The Hill, 5/9/07)   

UPCOMING ROUND TABLES & EVENTS

5/18 - Los Angeles Round Table
6/6 - Innovations in Healthcare^SM Awards Event
7/12 - Northern California Round Table
7/18 - Combined Orange County Healthcare & Life Sciences Tables
7/20 - Los Angeles Round Table

For the most current ABL Healthcare Online and access to ABL.org, go to
 http://www.abl.org/new/html/resources_news_hc.asp