Regional News/Midwest

MINNEAPOLIS—Fairview Health Services, looking to rebound from a billing controversy and a failed deal with Sanford Health, announced that system has hired Rulon Stacey to take the helm Nov. 4. Stacey, who recently said he would leave the University of Colorado Health, will succeed Mark Eustis, who retired as the system's president and CEO more than a year ago as Fairview faced inquiries into its billing and collection practices, and Charles Mooty, Fairview's board chairman, has served as the system's interim CEO. Fairview met with scrutiny in early 2012 after Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson launched an inquiry into Accretive Health, the billing and collection company under contract with Fairview to collect patient bills. The attorney general alleged the company aggressively sought to collect from patients in the emergency room while they received treatment. Accretive, while not admitting wrongdoing, resolved the matter by agreeing to pay $2.5 million and not to do business in Minnesota for at least two years. Fairview drew scrutiny over talks with Sanford Health. The controversy prompted Sanford's President and CEO Kelby Krabbenhoft to call off the talks, saying the deal would be “inconceivable and unacceptable” without the community's support. Fairview declined to provide an interview with Stacey. “Fairview and its partner, the University of Minnesota, are already well-respected organizations nationally, and I look forward to joining them in their quest to continually improve and grow,” he said in a news release.

WYOMING, Mich.—The Cleveland Clinic and Community Health Systems are looking to expand the reach of their joint alliance into Michigan—with a deal that would offer each system its first foothold in the state. The tie-up suggests a national expansion strategy for the 6-month-old alliance. While the pair crossed the Ohio border last month to forge a letter of intent to acquire Sharon (Pa.) Regional Health System, this latest deal—300 miles away from Cleveland—suggests they're casting a wider net. Metro Health Corp. in Wyoming said it is exploring a “strategic equity partnership” with the CHS-Cleveland Clinic alliance. The deal, if consummated, would provide Metro Health with access to capital through publicly traded CHS, and allow it to access the Cleveland Clinic's expertise on clinical matters. Doyle Hayes, chairman of Metro Health's board of directors, said in a news release that the 208-bed hospital is in exclusive negotiations with Franklin, Tenn.-based CHS after considering a number of potential partners. The next step is to sign a letter of intent. CHS and Cleveland Clinic last month entered into negotiations for its first acquisition, of Akron (Ohio) General Health System, which would include 474-bed Akron General Medical Center and two smaller facilities. While Akron is only an hour from the Cleveland Clinic's flagship hospital, the Metro Health deal takes the academic medical center into the Grand Rapids metro area, representing its third foray outside Ohio—Cleveland Clinic also has a campus in Weston, Fla. The deal would take 135-hospital Community Health Systems into its 30th state.