Memorial Healthcare System (FL) names new president and CEO
Memorial Healthcare System (Hollywood, FL) named Aurelio Fernandez, III as president and CEO effective March 1, 2016. Fernandez has been with Memorial Healthcare System for the past nine years, serving first as CEO of Memorial Hospital Miramar (Miramar, FL) before being promoted to EVP and COO of Memorial Healthcare System in 2012. Fernandez had been serving as interim president and CEO since the retirement of longtime leader Frank Sacco in February 2015.
Atlantic Health System acquires Hackettstown Regional Medical Center from Adventist HealthCare
Atlantic Health System (Morristown, NJ) completed its acquisition of Hackettstown Regional Medical Center (Hackettstown, NJ) from Adventist HealthCare (Gaithersburg, MD) effective April 1, 2016. The hospital was renamed Hackettstown Medical Center and will remain a licensed, acute-care general hospital. Details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Pfizer, Allergan call off $160B merger
Pfizer Inc (New York, NY) and Allergan Plc (Dublin, Ireland) walked away from their pending $160 billion merger. Pfizer said the decision was driven by new U.S. Treasury rules aimed at curbing inversion deals. The merger would have allowed Pfizer to get out of paying an estimated $1 billion in U.S. taxes annually by domiciling in Ireland where tax rates are lower. While the new Treasury rules did not name the Pfizer and Allergan deal specifically, one of the provisions targeted Allergan’s history as a major acquirer of other companies. Pfizer will pay Allergan $150 million to reimburse expenses from its deal. Allergan said it would move ahead with plans for its $40.5 billion sale of its generic drug business to Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (Petah Tikva, Israel). It expects that transaction to close by June 2016.
CMS’ changes to ACO cost targets well received by providers
According to an article on ModernHealthcare. com, major healthcare systems are praising CMS’ attempts to make Medicare’s biggest accountable care program more attractive. In January, CMS proposed overhauling the way it evaluates if and how much money ACOs are saving in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). The changes seek to address complaints that the benchmarks don’t allow efficient providers to earn substantial bonuses. Vizient names new vice president of public policy and government relations
Vizient Inc (Irving, TX) named Shoshana Krilow as VP of public policy and government relations.
In this role, Krilow will serve as a resource for members on the status of federal legislative and regulatory developments. Additionally, she will collaborate with other hospital-related associations and healthcare groups in the DC area to help shape and advance mutual policy priorities. Prior to joining Vizient, Krilow served as director of health and clinical affairs for the University of California (Oakland, CA), focusing on issues related to health policy and biomedical research for the UC Health System.