Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp. announced that Lakewood Regional Medical Center has appointed B. Joseph Badalian as its CEO. Badalian has served as the COO at Twin Cities Community Hospital in Templeton, CA, since April 2007. As CEO, Badalian will oversee strategic, operational, and clinical activities for the 172-bed tertiary care hospital located in Lakewood, CA.
The future of the financially troubled University of Connecticut Health Center looked brighter after the state House of Representatives approved a new plan to improve the center's 35-year-old John Dempsey Hospital, the Hartford Courant reports. After three hours of debate, the House voted 109-34 for the measure. The bill now moves to the Senate, which could take it up as early as Monday. The money-losing health center has been bailed out multiple times by the legislature since 2000 because it could not meet its financial obligations without a state infusion of cash near the end of the fiscal year.
A $145-million purchase offer by the Lifepoint hospital chain and a bankruptcy filing by Sumner Regional Health Systems may result in Brentwood, TN-based Lifepoint taking control of Sumner's flagship Gallatin hospital and two smaller operations by summer. Sumner Regional's board voted to accept Lifepoint's purchase offer over nine others. A bankruptcy judge still must review Lifepoint's bid, and rival companies could resurface as part of the court proceedings to challenge or try to beat Lifepoint's price.
A national physicians organization has quietly decided to revoke the certification of any member who participates in executing a prisoner by lethal injection. The mandate from the American Board of Anesthesiologists reflects its leaders' belief that "we are healers, not executioners," board secretary Mark A. Rockoff said. Although the American Medical Association has long opposed doctor involvement, the anesthesiologists' group is the first to say it will harshly penalize a healthcare worker for abetting lethal injections. The loss of certification would prevent an anesthesiologist from working in most hospitals.
A proposal to build the county's second major hospital is headed for a vote by the Loudoun County, VA, Board of Supervisors following unanimous approval by the nine members of the county Planning Commission. The 164-bed facility would be built by the Hospital Corp. of America, a for-profit company that has headquarters in Richmond and operates 13 facilities in the state, including the Reston Hospital Center.
The University of Chicago has appointed private-equity executive Rodney Goldstein as chairman of its medical center, the school announced. A trustee of U of C's medical center board since 1992 and now its vice-chairman, Goldstein will replace interim Chairman James Crown. Crown replaced Valerie Jarrett, who stepped down in early 2009 to serve as a senior adviser to President Barack Obama.