Today’s Healthcare Headlines:

• Urgent-care chain Solantic expands, rebrands
  Solantic, the chain of urgent-care centers that Florida Gov. Rick Scott founded in 2001, is expanding and changing its name to CareSpot Express Healthcare.
• CDC panel calls for team approach on blood pressure
  An expert panel is advising a team-based approach to controlling high blood pressure, a condition that affects 68 million American adults and costs the U.S. healthcare system more than $130 billion annually.
• TriZetto company buys doc-pay software specialist
  TriZetto Group, a Denver-based healthcare information technology services provider, has acquired physician reimbursement software company NHXS.
• Consumers see hospital, doc-office prices rise
  Consumer prices for hospital services climbed 0.6% in April after the prior month’s increase of 0.2%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index. The figures are seasonally adjusted. For April 2011, consumer hospital…
• Wolters Kluwer finds pharma analytics buyer
  Symphony Technology Group has acquired Source

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Today’s Healthcare Headlines:

• IMedX buys Accumed Script
  Shelton, Conn.-based iMedX announced its acquisition of Accumed Script, a Columbus, Ohio-based medical-transcription firm, according…
• Erlanger names Creel interim CMO
  Erlanger Health System, Chattanooga, Tenn., has named Dr. James Creel interim chief medical officer, effective May 14.
• Hospital PPI rose 0.3% in April; doc-office figures dip
  Wholesale acute-care hospital prices increased 0.3% in April for the second straight month, according to preliminary figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index.
• IRS to accept comments on changes to Form 990
  The Internal Revenue Service said it will briefly accept comments about changes to the Form 990 that were prompted by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
• AMA repeats call to halt ICD-10 adoption
  The American Medical Association has renewed its call to hit the pause button on the national adoption of the ICD-10 diagnostic and procedural codes.
• RUC physician fee lawsuit

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Today’s Healthcare Headlines:

• Hospital board OKs acquisition by Indy system
  The board at Howard Regional Health System, Kokomo, Ind., has approved the deal for the two-hospital system to be acquired by Indianapolis-based Community Health Network, according to a news release.
• Von Eschenbach joins Banyan board
  Banyan Biomarkers, based in Alachua, Fla., has elected Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach to its board of directors, according to a news…
• Large variability in knee surgeries found
  The duration, length of stay and complication rates associated with total knee replacement surgery vary significantly from one hospital to another, according to
• VA awards contract to Harris Corp.
  The Veterans Affairs Department’s Office of Information Technology awarded a $2 million contract to Harris Corp., the healthcare information technology company said.
• DME bidding program seen as success; further study urged
  The first year of the DME competitive-bidding program was successful, but more experience with competitive bidding is needed

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Today’s Healthcare Headlines:

• North Suburban opens free-standing ER
  HealthOne’s North Suburban Medical Center, a 128-bed hospital in Thornton, Colo., has opened a free-standing, 24-hour emergency room. The 10,000-square-foot facility is located roughly seven miles from North Suburban and will offer the same services…
• Former exec receives three-year sentence
  David Rosen, a former health system CEO who was convicted in September for fraud and conspiracy to commit bribery, was sentenced to three years in prison by a U.S. District Court judge.
• Renowned MetroHealth cardiologist dies
  Dr. David Rosenbaum, chief of the division of cardiology and director of the Heart & Vascular Center for the MetroHealth System in Cleveland, died May 5 in Cleveland. He was 54.
• CMS listens to AMA panel 87.4% of time
  Those who say the CMS follows the suggestions of the American Medical Association’s Specialty Society Relative Value Scale Update Committee (commonly known as “the RUC”) 90% of

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Today’s Healthcare Headlines:

• Mednax division buys anesthesiology practice
  American Anesthesiology, a division of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Mednax, has acquired physician group practice Brazos Anesthesiology Associates, Bryan, Texas, for an undisclosed amount of cash.
• CMS delays data collection for Sunshine Act to 2013
  The CMS has again extended the implementation of the Physician Payments Sunshine Act and will not require drug and device manufacturers to begin collecting data on payments to providers until 2013.
• Amcom buys system for speedy test-results delivery
  Amcom Software, a Minneapolis company that specializes in critical communications technologies for healthcare, education, government and other sectors, has acquired a clinical test results-management system from Pewaukee, Wis.-based IMCO…
• Highmark launches GPO
  Highmark, the Pittsburgh insurer seeking to acquire a distressed health system, announced the launch of ProtoCo Supply Chain Partners, a group-purchasing and supply-chain services organization.
• Busts made in Lilly drug theft
  Law enforcement officials have recovered more than

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Today’s Healthcare Headlines:

• Senators ask providers to weigh in on fraud prevention
  A bipartisan group of six lawmakers from the Senate Finance Committee issued an open letter to healthcare providers, payers and patients seeking input on better ways to prevent waste and fraud in healthcare, including ideas on improving the current…
• TeamHealth continues Mid-Atlantic expansion
  TeamHealth, Knoxville, Tenn., has acquired the Exigence Group, a physician staffing company based in Amherst, N.Y., in a move that TeamHealth said would help it capitalize on the growing urgent-care segment.
• HHS awards $10.4 million for rural health
  HHS announced the awarding of $10.4 million in grants to 70 rural providers as part of the first round of funding for three-year direct healthcare projects in their communities.
• HealthNow New York names Ram CMO
  HealthNow New York, which includes Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Western New York and Blue Shield of Northeastern New York, named

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Today’s Healthcare Headlines:

• Sanford, Medcenter One in merger talks
  At the end of last year, North Dakota’s Medcenter One and Sanford Health released statements that said the two systems were talking about working together, but that this didn’t necessarily mean a merger was in the works.
• Safety effort targeting handoffs cut errors 40%: Boston hospital
  Researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital have developed a specialized set of protocols they say will improve patient handoffs and reduce the risk of adverse events.
• Armstrong to lead Fla. health department
  Dr. John Armstrong was appointed Florida’s surgeon general and secretary of the state’s health department.
• ACPE names Riddles president, board chairman
  The American College of Physician Executives has named Dr. Lawrence Riddles as president and chairman of the board.
• N.H. hospital trustees seek CMS help on Medicaid reimbursements
  The trustees of 10 hospitals in New Hampshire that have sued the state over reductions in

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Today’s Healthcare Headlines:

• Tenet announces stock repurchase
  Tenet Healthcare Corp., Dallas, has repurchased $299 million in preferred stock on the heels of a strong first quarter performance.
• AAMC’s Kirch warns on IPPS cuts
  The head of the Association of American Medical Colleges is speaking out against potential payment cuts for teaching hospitals that were included in the CMS’ proposed inpatient prospective payment system rule for fiscal 2013.
• FTC backs La. bill easing care rules for advanced-practice nurses
  The Federal Trade Commission said it backs proposed Louisiana legislation that would relax care-related rules for advanced-practice registered nurses, saying the measure would support competition and benefit consumers.
• Docs earn up to $44,000 for admin tasks: MGMA-ACMPE
  Most medical directors spend about three to 10 hours a week on duties associated with the administrative role, but it’s what they do in that time that affects their compensation, according to a report based on

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Today’s Healthcare Headlines:

• HITRUST announces cybersecurity center
  The Health Information Trust Alliance, a Frisco, Texas-based organization focused on information security, has established a new center dedicated to cybersecurity within the healthcare industry.
• NextGen Healthcare parent buys Matrix Management
  Quality Systems, Irvine, Calif., has acquired physician-founded revenue-cycle management company Matrix Management Solutions, North Canton, Ohio.
• Wishard docs group restructures
  Indiana’s Wishard Health Services and more than 100 primary-care and hospitalist physicians on faculty at the Indiana University School of Medicine have formed a new organization: Eskenazi Medical Group.
• Preventive cardiology group names new president
  The American Society for Preventive Cardiology has named Mayo Clinic cardiologist Dr. Stephen Kopecky as president.
• Locum Tenens doc group names Phillips president
  The National Association of Locum Tenens Organizations elected Interim Physicians executive Frank Phillips as the group’s next president.
• EHR adoption still lags for small, rural practices: researchers
  Adoption of electronic health-record systems remains higher

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Today’s Healthcare Headlines:

• GAO notes Defense Dept.’s lack of progress on health-cost initiatives
  Of the 11 goals the U.S. Defense Department has identified to slow its rising healthcare costs, the department has made progress in just one area, the Government Accountability Office concluded in a new report.
• Texas hospital reopens after bomb scare
  After two hours of confusion and rumors late this afternoon, McAllen (Texas) Medical Center reopened its doors after an apparent bomb threat.
• Rib-X Pharmaceuticals names chief development officer
  Rib-X Pharmaceuticals, a New Haven, Conn.-based antibiotics developer, named Dr. Matthew Wikler as its new chief development officer.
• ABIM CEO Cassel to step down
  Dr. Christine Cassel will leave her posts as president and CEO of the American Board of Internal Medicine and the ABIM Foundation in July 2013, when her current term ends.
• R.I. Senate votes to remove limit on acquisitions
  The Rhode Island Senate voted 36-0 to

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Today’s Healthcare Headlines:

• St. Jude Medical wants journal to retract report
  A medical device manufacturer is demanding that a medical society journal retract a report which concluded its products “are prone to high-voltage failures that have resulted in death.”
• Funding deal approved for Ariz. KidsCare program
  Arizona can resume coverage for children eligible through its state-federal insurance program for the poor under a new funding arrangement approved by the CMS.
• Regent Surgical announces joint venture with Irish firm
  Regent Surgical Health, a Chicago-based surgery-center management and development firm, is expanding its relationship with the physician group Neurosurgery Ireland by announcing the company’s first international hospital and physician joint venture.Brought to you by ModernHealthcare.com 
• Doc seeks ouster of trustee at N.Y. hospital slated to close
  A physician has asked a bankruptcy court to oust a trustee who has moved to permanently close Peninsula Hospital, New York.
• Utah officials: Medicaid records breach

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