|
Hong-Lin Du,
Newport Medical Instruments
 Hong-Lin Du is President of Newport Medical Instruments, the largest
privately-owned ventilator company in the U.S.
The company's ventilators are
distributed in over 116 countries,
are ISO certified and meet all
appropriate global agency requirements,
and are used for all ages - neonates,
pediatrics and adults - and for various environments, ranging from ICU,
subacute, transport, homecare, and emergency preparedness.
Du joined
Newport Medical, in 1997, as Director of Clinical Research, became VP of
Medical Affairs, in 2000, and was promoted to President, in 2001.
Earlier, Du worked for
Tokibo Co. Ltd, a medical device
trading company in Tokyo, Japan, and was a Clinical and Research Fellow
at Tokyo University Hospital in Anesthesiology and Critical Care. Du has
rejoined the Orange County Healthcare Executives Round Table.
|
|
Abraxis Bioscience
to be Acquired
Celgene Corp., a maker of blood cancer drugs, has agreed to buy Abraxis Bioscience, where Patrick Soon-Shiong is
Executive Chairman, in a $2.9 billion deal. Celgene will gain the drug Abraxane, approved by U.S. regulators
for treating metastatic breast cancer. The medicine brought in $315
million in sales last year, 88% of Abraxis’s revenue, and is in testing
for lung and pancreatic tumors. The acquisition probably will close in
the fourth quarter, the companies said.
CHMB Acquires Medex
California Healthcare Medical Billing, Inc., where Bob Svendsen is CEO,
has acquired the assets of Medex Practice Solutions based in Oakdale, Stanislaus County,
CA. This will bring the total to
1600+ physicians in 310 practices utilizing CHMB's healthcare business
services throughout California. "We expect to extend our EHR Services
into Central and Northern California by joining with Medex," Bob said.
Linden Closes $375M
Equity Fund
Healthcare-focused private equity firm
Linden
LLC, where Tony Kesman is a Senior Partner,
successfully completed
fundraising for Linden Capital Partners II, which
closed with $375 million of committed capital.
Linden this year was named as Best New Firm by Buyouts magazine, which
cited “impressive” exits and the firm’s pursuit of “small healthcare
companies that are poised to benefit from market trends."
Hythiam Raises $$,
Signs Contract
Hythiam,
where Rick Anderson is President, has raised approximately $3.5
million in a direct offering. Also, Hythiam has entered
into a multi-year agreement with Health Plan of Nevada to provide its Catasys
integrated substance dependence solution to enrolled members.
Tethys Awarded
Patent for Diabetes Risk Test
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted Tethys Bioscience,
where Mike Richey is President, a patent for its groundbreaking PreDx
Diabetes Risk Score test, related to proprietary methods for assessing
the risk of developing a diabetic condition.
A-Life Wins a Spot
on Red Herring 100
A-Life Medical, where Jaye Connolly is
President, was named a 2010 Red Herring 100 North America Winner.
The
list identifies promising new
companies and entrepreneurs.
Only 100 winners were selected from a pool
of hundreds.
CFHC Presents
Training Webinars
California Family Health Council, where
Margie Fites Seigle is CEO, is now offering some of its trainings as
webinars, including in July and August, "How to Talk to Clients about HPV";
"Tips on Providing Client-Centered Contraceptive Counseling"; and "Tips on Talking to Teens."
Click here for more info.
CareMeridian Honored
by Brain Injury Association
The Phoenix, AZ, facility of CareMeridian, where Jim Ashby is CEO,
has been recognized by the Brain Injury Association of Arizona, for its
significant contributions aimed at increasing understanding of
brain injury and its impacts.
CERECONS
ID's High-Risk Patients
Unlimited Innovations Inc., where Philip Paul is CEO,
developer of CERECONS software, has released
Lab Registry, a
new software module that allows medical
organizations to rapidly and accurately identify at-risk patients for
proactive care based upon lab results. Lab Registry is
accessible from any web browser, and centralizes all lab reports and
associated patient contacts into one location.
CIGNA Partners with
CareCentrix
CIGNA, where Chris De Rosa is Southern California/Nevada
President, and CareCentrix have
teamed to
offer the Care Transitions Program to people enrolled in a CIGNA health
plan, which will offer CareCentrix's specialized home nursing services
to help individuals transition from hospital care to home recovery.
HeartMath Webinar
Features Venus & Mars Author
HeartMath, where Bruce Cryer is CEO, is presenting a free webinar
on July 14th:
Hormonal Balance - the key to life, love, energy and better
relationships, featuring Dr. John Gray, author of Men are From
Mars, Women are From Venus, which USA Today hailed as one of
the top-ten most influential books of the last 25 years.
IBM to Transform IT
for BCBS Massachusetts
IBM, where Bill
Craddock is Client Service Leader West of Global Business Services,
and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts announced a
new five-year services agreement in which IBM will work with BCBSMA to
transform its information technology environment into a more responsive,
competitive and flexible IT delivery model.
Keenan Discusses
Loss of Grandfathered Plan Status
Keenan, where Steve Richter is Senior VP,
has published a new Briefing,
Health Care Reform: Grandfathered Plans - Part II,
which describes the provisions of the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that are applicable to plans
that lose their grandfathered status.
MedVantage Validated
for AHIP Project
Med-Vantage, Inc., where Peter Goldbach is
CEO, announced that measure results produced from its HealthSmart
Designer Suite have been validated by NCQA for use in the America’s
Health Insurance Plans Foundation’s High-Value Health Care Project pilot project.
The pilot project allows physicians in Florida and Colorado to access,
for the first time ever, individual performance data aggregated across
most of the major health plans in their respective state.
Perigen's Chief an
Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist
Don Deieso,
Chairman & CEO of PeriGen, Inc., was a Finalist for Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur Of
The Year 2010 Award in New Jersey, selected from over 40
nominations by a panel of independent judges.
Quality Systems Wins a Stevie
Quality Systems Inc. (QSI), where
Steve Plochocki is CEO,
announced that its Dental Division’s NextDDS solution earned an American
Business "Stevie" Award for best ad campaign
in the Health Products and Services category.
Meanwhile,
Gardner Family Health Network has chosen to deploy QSI's NextGen Ambulatory EHR and Practice Management, as well as the QSI Dental System.
Kaiser & VHA: Best
Places to Work in IT;
VHA Updates PriceLYNX
IDG's Computerworld magazine has published its annual ranking of
the Top 100 Best Places to Work in Information Technology, and Kaiser Permanente, where Dan Edmonds-Waters
and Chris Boyd are senior executives,
came in at #27, and VHA, where Rick Barnett
is West Coast Executive Officer, is #41. VHA was also
ranked #6 in a sub-category of small companies.
Meanwhile,
VHA has enhanced its PriceLYNX 2.0 with new features that track
individual pricing performance against market trends, updated savings
identification and implementation dashboards, and the ability to better
compare an individual hospital's overall spending performance against
other hospitals.
|
|
HHS
Sends Final Meaningful-Use Rules to OMB
HHS
has sent its final meaningful-use rules and certification criteria for
electronic health-record system testing to the Office of Management and
Budget, typically one of the last bureaucratic hurdles before rules are
released. The criteria are called for under the EHR subsidy program
established by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Robert Tennant, a senior policy adviser to the Medical Group Management
Association, said he expects a quick turnaround on both rules. (ModernHealthcare.com,
7/6/10)
SGR “Fixed” for
Another 6 Months
The House
of Representatives on June 24 passed legislation, HR 3962, which will
"fix" the sustainable growth rate formula for the next six months, and
President Obama signed it into law on June 25. Retroactive to services
delivered on or after June 1, the Medicare Conversion Factor will be
raised by 2.2%. The fix will be in place for services provided between
June 1 and Nov. 30. Unless Congress takes steps between now and Nov. 30,
the 2.2% increase will cease on Dec. 1 and the 21.3% reduction will be
restored. (HealthImaging.com, 6/29/10)
Connecticut
Adds Low-Income Adults to Medicaid
On June
21, Connecticut became the first state to permanently add low-income
adults to its Medicaid program under the new reform law. The statute
permits states to receive federal funding for providing Medicaid
coverage to childless adults with incomes up to 133% of the Federal
Poverty Level, or $14,400 for an individual in 2010. Prior to the reform
law, the state could cover only childless adults with incomes up to
$6,650 per year. The law requires states to cover all low-income
individuals in Medicaid starting in 2014, but also allows states to get
federal funding to enroll them now. Connecticut estimates that about
45,000 adults will become eligible for Medicaid under this health reform
expansion, thereby enabling the state to save about $53 million by 2011.
(AISHealth.com, 6/28/10)
|
If your Internet provider filters incoming email, please add ABL to your
list of approved senders to make sure you receive the invitations and
newsletters to which you've subscribed. For more information on the ABL
Organization, visit www.abl.org
