Indiana State Department of Health inks $209.9 million contract with EDS
The Indiana State Department of Health (Indianapolis, Ind.) awarded a $209.9 million, six-and-a-half-year contract to EDS Corp (Plano, Texas) to upgrade and continue to maintain its Medicaid Management Information System. Upgrades include a Web-based tool that will enable healthcare providers to electronically enroll in the Medicaid program and other internal processes. EDS has been Indiana’s Medicaid partner since 1991. Indiana has 27,000 healthcare providers who care for more than 800,000 Medicaid recipients.
Perham Memorial will build a new hospital at a new location
In order to allow for future growth, the Perham Memorial Hospital Home (PMHH) (Perham, Minn.) Board of Trustees decided that its new hospital will not be built on the existing campus. PMHH is exploring two locations for its new hospital. Design work will begin for a projected groundbreaking in April 2009. The project will take about 15 months for completion.
Newly appointed director of contracting for HCA West Florida
Brett Perkins has been promoted as the new director of contracting and supplier diversity for HCA Inc (Nashville, Tenn.) for the west Florida region. Currently the supply chain director and clinical resource manager at Oak Hill Hospital (Brooksville, Fla.), Perkins has been with the hospital for six years.
Affinity Medical hires new CEO
Ronald L Bierman was named CEO at Affinity Medical Center Doctors Hospital Campus (Massillon, Ohio), effective Jan. 28, 2008. With nearly 30 years of healthcare experience, Bierman most recently served in the same capacity at Hialeah Hospital (Hialeah, Fla.).
Amerinet signs McKesson for Paragon HIS
Amerinet Inc (Saint Louis, Mo.) announced an agreement for the Paragon community hospital information system was awarded to McKesson Corp (San Francisco, Calif.). Effective through Oct. 31, 2009, the affordable, fully integrated Paragon clinical and financial healthcare information system will be available to Amerinet members. Paragon was rated Best in KLAS in the Community HIS category in the Top 20 Best in KLAS 2007 Awards report issued in December 2007.
Milford Hospital opens cancer treatment center
Milford Hospital (Milford, Conn.) opened a $25 million comprehensive cancer treatment center in collaboration with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Boston, Mass.) and Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Boston, Mass.). Designed to serve about 20 communities, the new center is housed in a new 54,000-square-foot, two-story building on the medical center’s campus, located at the intersection of Route 16 and Route 140. The center will operate with two oncologists and a staff of 40 medical and administrative workers. Dana-Farber will oversee medical oncology, Brigham and Women’s will be in charge of radiation oncology, and Milford Hospital will provide diagnostic imaging and laboratory testing.
ANAE names Morris to advisory board
The Association of National Account Executives (ANAE) announced that Steven Morris has joined the ANAE Advisory Board. Morris is currently the National Account Manager for the diagnostic ultrasound manufacturer, Medison America, Inc. He has been an active ANAE member and veteran in the healthcare industry. Eight Ohio hospitals select Premier’s infection control technology
Premier Inc (San Diego, Calif.) announced that an additional eight hospitals selected Premier’s SafetySurveillor, an innovative infection control technology that continuously alerts, detects and tracks infections using Web-based reporting tools. Hospitals from the following health systems join nearly 200 other facilities that use the technology: Kettering Adventist Healthcare Kettering Medical Center (Kettering, Ohio), four hospitals; Summa Health System (Akron, Ohio), two hospitals; and an unnamed Cincinnati, Ohio-based hospital system, two hospitals. The SafetySurveillor continuously tracks HAIs and antibiotic use to monitor prevention and control requirements and helps hospitals meet state-mandated public reporting of certain HAIs, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium difficile.
Saint Joseph Hospital (New York) to remain open
Catholic Health System (Buffalo, N.Y.) reached an agreement with the New York State Department of Health (Albany, N.Y.) under which Saint Joseph Hospital (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) will remain open. The hospital was scheduled to close under a state mandate. Under the deal, Saint Joseph will surrender its operating certificate and 208 beds, and will immediately reopen as the eastern campus of Sisters of Charity Hospital (Buffalo, N.Y.) with 125 unused beds from Sisters of Charity’s operating license. Saint Joseph will be operated by Sisters until at least 2011. Saint Joseph received $8 million from the health department for the conversion, the date of which has not been determined.
