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| HealthSouth to Shed Surgery Centers
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HealthSouth, the nation's largest operator of ASCs, has announced plans to sell or spin off its 158 surgery centers as well as its outpatient rehabilitation and diagnostic centers in order to focus on post-acute, inpatient care.
The company, which began its corporate life as an outpatient rehabilitation chain and diversified through a growth period that recently suffered from a massive accounting scandal, says its core business of inpatient rehabilitation for patients recovering from stroke or brain injuries accounts for the majority of revenue and earnings. In the last quarter, inpatient rehabilitation represented 58 percent of the company's profits.
"With the aging of our nation's population and the highly fragmented nature of the $125 billion post-acute market, we recognize there are significant growth and consolidation opportunities in the post-acute sector," say company officials in a statement.
HealthSouth's exit from the surgery center business could present attractive acquisition opportunities and reduced competition for other ASC companies. Analysts have speculated that AmSurg, Symbion and United Surgical may bid on some of HealthSouth's ASCs.
"It's big news when 150 surgery centers come on the market," says Ken Mitchell, chief financial officer at Symbion, which currently operates 62 ASCs and is developing three more. "We would have an interest like everybody else would have an interest. But we can't comment in any detail."
AmSurg Corp. executive Claire Gulmi told the Nashville Tennessean last week that the company would likely explore the possibility of purchasing some or all of its rival's surgery center division. "But it's just way too early to comment on that," she added.
HealthSouth says its surgery center divestiture may take more than a year to complete.
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| Study: Docs Report When Errors Apparent
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HealthSouth, the nation's largest operator of ASCs, has announced plans to sell or spin off its 158 surgery centers as well as its outpatient rehabilitation and diagnostic centers in order to focus on post-acute, inpatient care.
The company, which began its corporate life as an outpatient rehabilitation chain and diversified through a growth period that recently suffered from a massive accounting scandal, says its core business of inpatient rehabilitation for patients recovering from stroke or brain injuries accounts for the majority of revenue and earnings. In the last quarter, inpatient rehabilitation represented 58 percent of the company's profits.
"With the aging of our nation's population and the highly fragmented nature of the $125 billion post-acute market, we recognize there are significant growth and consolidation opportunities in the post-acute sector," say company officials in a statement.
HealthSouth's exit from the surgery center business could present attractive acquisition opportunities and reduced competition for other ASC companies. Analysts have speculated that AmSurg, Symbion and United Surgical may bid on some of HealthSouth's ASCs.
"It's big news when 150 surgery centers come on the market," says Ken Mitchell, chief financial officer at Symbion, which currently operates 62 ASCs and is developing three more. "We would have an interest like everybody else would have an interest. But we can't comment in any detail."
AmSurg Corp. executive Claire Gulmi told the Nashville Tennessean last week that the company would likely explore the possibility of purchasing some or all of its rival's surgery center division. "But it's just way too early to comment on that," she added.
HealthSouth says its surgery center divestiture may take more than a year to complete.
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| Surgical Simulator Aims for Realism
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Surgeons may soon practice their technique on a surgical simulator that replicates not only the look but also the touch and feel of the body's organs. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Harvard Medical School, Albany Medical Center and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are replicating the visual and haptic feedback of internal matter to create a high-degree of realism in a virtual surgical environment.
The simulator is based on a new computational technology, the point associated finite field (PAFF) for physics-based real time surgery simulation, according to Suvranu De, ScD, assistant professor of mechanical, aerospace and nuclear engineering and director of the Advanced Computational Research Lab at Rensselaer. In a paper published in the June/July issue of the journal Presence, Dr. De notes the technology represents matter as a collection of particles or nodes that serve as the computational primitives.
"This model allows us to compute the deformation of the tissue as well as the force of interaction of the surgical tool with the tissue by solving partial differential equations that govern the behavior of deformable objects," says Dr. De.
According to Dr. De, researchers plan to develop the simulation program for a single surgical procedure and introduce it to train residents in Harvard Medical School. Long term, the group aims to create several simulators for laparoscopic surgery and work with medical organizations to explore the possibility of training surgeons nationwide.
"Our grand vision is to create a virtual palpable human that can be used for many medical applications, not just surgery," explains Dr. De, who says the first prototype should be completed in the next four years.
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| News and Notes |
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MAGNETIZING PATIENTS COULD MAKE LAPAROSCOPY MORE EFFECTIVE, according to researchers at the University of Dundee in Scotland. According to Sir Alfred Cuschieri, MD, DM, FRCS, FMed Sci, FRSE, giving magnetic properties to tissue would allow for better intraoperative imaging and better surgical results. "If the tissue can be magnetized in a biocompatible fashion, this opens up therapeutic avenues," he said in a published report. "When a surgeon touches a tumor with a toothed instrument such as a grasper, it can spill cells back into the body."
SMITHS MEDICAL HAS ANNOUNCED it will begin U.S. distribution of Sodasorb LF Carbon Dioxide Absorbent, a new product designed for use during the administration of closed and semi-closed, low-flow inhalation anesthesia methods. The product, manufactured by W. R. Grace & Co., provides more effective carbon dioxide absorption to prevent patient exposure to the dangerous byproducts of low-flow anesthesia, says the company. In a cost-saving feature, the absorbent also changes color, from white to violet, as the product is used up or dries out in order to alert users to change the product without unnecessary waste.
TWO CALIFORNIA WOMEN HAVE BEEN ARRESTED in the continuing investigation into an ambulatory surgery center's rent-a-patient insurance fraud scheme. Rosalinda Landon, 60, and Dee Francis, 56, clinic administrators for the Unity Outpatient Surgery Center in Buena Park, Calif., are charged with over 100 counts of conspiracy and insurance fraud for their roles in the recruitment of patients for unnecessary surgeries and the fraudulent billing of insurers for those procedures. Facility administrators Tam Vu Pham, Huong Thien Ngo and Lan Thi Ngoc Nguyen pleaded guilty to insurance fraud last year and recruiters Johnny and Thuy Huynh are awaiting pre-trial hearings next month. The scheme billed more than $90 million in claims and netted more than $14 million in insurance payouts over the course of eight months in 2002 and 2003. |
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