Mergers often force executives to work with people who are complete strangers and whose management styles may spell endless conflict.
That doesn't seem to be the case with OrNda HealthCorp, which will merge with Summit Health and American Healthcare Management next month.
It's practically reunion time, according to a partner at OrNda's largest shareholder, Joseph Littlejohn & Levy, a New York-based venture capital firm.
"We almost brought (Summit chief executive officer) Don (Amaral) in to run OrNda," recalled Paul Levy. That was in late 1991, when OrNda's board was looking for new management for the recapitalized company. Instead, Mr. Levy made a cold call to Charles Martin, former president of HealthTrust-The Hospital Co., to see if he'd be interested.
Mr. Martin, now OrNda's chairman, president and chief executive, joined the company in January 1992.
Mr. Amaral will be chief operating officer of the new OrNda.
Mr. Levy said he's also pleased to have Steve Volla on board. Mr. Volla, chairman, president and CEO of AHM, will be chairman of the executive committee for OrNda after the merger. In addition, Mr. Volla is a board member of Joseph Littlejohn & Levy's other major healthcare investment, Kendall International, a Mansfield, Mass.-based medical supply firm.
Healthcare goes Hollywood. Executives from St. Luke Medical Center in Pasadena, Calif., were on hand at one of Tinsel Town's exclusive Academy Awards' night parties last week benefitting the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation and honoring Michael S. Gottlieb, M.D., as Caregiver of the Year.
An internationally known immunologist, Dr. Gottlieb has researched and treated AIDS and HIV-infected patients for 14 years. His Gottlieb Medical Group, a solo-specialty practice with offices in Sherman Oaks and West Hollywood, recently established a third site in Pasadena. The group offers AIDS/HIV services in the San Gabriel Valley through a joint effort with 179-bed St. Luke's California Immunology Center. Dr. Gottlieb is one of two physicians offering AIDS-care services at St. Luke.
Among the gala's highlights was a videotaped congratulatory message to Dr. Gottlieb from actress/comedienne Whoopi Goldberg, who was busy hosting the main Oscar event. Dozens of other celebrities were in attendance, including Kevin Dobson and Joan Van Ark.
In good company. The client list of Gold and Liebengood, the lobbying firm engaged by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, offers a glimpse into how diversified and hefty its base of employers is.
The 40-odd companies stacked under the firm's entry in the latest Congressional Record quarterly report of lobbying activity include such clients as Caremark, Coca Cola Co., Electronic Data Systems Corp., Ford Motor Co., Genentech, MCI Communications Corp., the National Football League, Nestle USA, Pennzoil Co. and the Times Mirror Co.
The size of the corporation didn't necessarily translate into the highest billings, a measure of the activity conducted on behalf of clients. Ford, for example, paid nothing to Gold and Liebengood during the fourth quarter of 1993, according to the filing.
But the firm's receipt of $55,200 from the Joint Commission was third-highest on the list, behind the Hopi Tribe with $77,760 and the Philip Morris Co. with $66,500. A spokeswoman for Gold and Liebengood didn't return phone calls, so Outliers couldn't find out the hot topics that so interested the top two. For the topics that interest the Joint Commission, see p. 34.
Fashionably late? The Clinical Laboratory Management Association is joining the Washington dance. Malvern, Pa.-based CLMA, traditionally an educational group, signed on its first "national affairs manager" recently and hired the Washington-based lobbying firm MARC Associates.
Its efforts to influence Washington pushed its budget for "national affairs activities" to $146,000 in 1994 from $73,000 in 1993. That's out of a total budget of $3.5 million.
CLMA also recently spun out a proposal to reform laboratories with the rest of the healthcare system. CLMA says its reform principles are backed by the majority of its 8,500 members, representing laboratory managers from hospitals and independent companies, among others. The group champions creating regional laboratory networks and making laboratory directors responsible for ensuring that tests are ordered appropriately.
"Most healthcare organizations are finding that they can't operate without close links to Washington," said Paul Pomerantz, CLMA executive vice president. "It took us a while to get involved because CLMA is so broad-based."
Expert advice.When you think of Cathy, the comic-strip character created by Cathy Guisewite, you probably think of shopping.
That's why Dallas Medical Resource has licensed Cathy as its spokeswoman to encourage patients to become informed medical shoppers. Dallas Medical Resource is a consortium of eight large Dallas hospitals and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. The group came together about four years ago to draw business to Dallas providers by contracting directly with employers.
Beginning last year, Dallas Medical Resource began signing corporate contracts and now manages care for 70,000 individuals. That's expected to increase to 150,000 by July.
Using the theme, "Shopping is Good for Your Health," the consortium believes informed patients will discover that Dallas hospitals and physicians are their best buy-in quality and price. Since women make most healthcare decisions, the group believes Cathy is a character they can relate to.
For example, Dallas Medical Resource recently completed a consumer's guide on heart disease. With that in hand, patients are encouraged to ask their physicians questions such as, "Do you perform a minimum of 75 balloon angioplasties a year?" That's the minimum annual volume set by the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology for cardiologists to be proficient at that procedure. Dallas Medical Resource physicians meet or exceed those indicators, the group said.
