Well, I spoke too soon

Just a quick note tonight. You'll notice that a few days ago, I posted a story about a failed leveraged buyout of HCA Healthcare, the country's largest investor-owned hospital chain. Well, this morning, it was announced that a deal had been reached with the group of investors for $21B and some change plus the $11-or-so Billion in debt. The story is far from over and it will be interesting to see what Dr. Thomas Frist, Jr., the son of the original founder of HCA has in mind for the company. So for all you non-healthcare people, consider yourself caught up!

We are one...

Last night Switchfoot was in Richmond to play an Innsbrook After Hours concert. We had a great time! I actually haven't seen Switchfoot live before, but I've been a big fan of their music for a number of years. (It's probably worth noting that I haven't been to very many concerts, so it's not like I was just ignoring their concerts) The concert was great - and the thunderstorm that rolled through (it was an outdoor concert) only added to the experience. Actually, at one time - the show was stopped because of all the lightning around us. Of course nobody left, so Jon Foreman came out into the middle of the crowd with his acoustic and sang the song 24 as loud as he could. The crowd helped out a bit, expecially with the chorus.

All in all, it was a great night. The band was great and it was awesome to be in a venue as small as Innsbrook so that you really could get close. I'll close this post with some lyrics from a song off Nothing is Sound, their latest album. The song is called We are One.

I don't want to lose it, coming down
With the whole world upside-down
I don't have a soul to trust in now
With the whole world upside-down

We are one, tonight!
And we're singing it out!
We are one, tonight!
And we're dreaming out loud!

Excuse the Shop Talk

I try to keep a well balanced blog and cover some different topics then just what I've been up to lately. As a member of the healthcare administration industry, I read a lot of news and get wind of a number of rumors throughout the week. Just like any other industry, you need to know what's happening in the market. Well there were three overwhelmingly big stories that came out of this week:

1) HCA is almost bought out by investors
This is huge. For those of you who aren't in the field, HCA is the largest investor-owned hospital system (70% of hospitals in the US are not-for-profit). Not only are they the largest, but they are powerful. If the deal would have gone, it would have been one of the biggest in history and really would have been interesting. But buying a company with $11 billion in debt would make me think twice too.

2) CVS buys MinuteClinic
This one was just odd in my opinion. I saw a health system buying MinuteClinic before a retail pharmacy would. If the retail pharmacies wanted to get into the business, I figured it would be easy enough to setup internally. Oh, and for those grounded in market reality - CVS reportedly paid $170 Million for a company that has yet to turn a profit.

3) Physician and 2 Nurses arrested for Katrina-related deaths
This is probably the most controversial of them all. Basically, the Louisiana AG pressed charges against these individuals for purposefully administering too much pain medication which caused the deaths of chronically and severely ill patients during the Katrina catastophe. There are people on both sides of the fence on this one and the debate rests along the sacred lines around physician-assisted suicide. You can see some discussion of the issue at The Health Care Blog.


Well, there's my first healthcare news update for the blog. I hope those of you who read the blog take a minute to check out some of the links. This is the side of medicine that most people don't think about - but its one that I have to think about!

My New Passion

It might not be a "passion" yet, but kayaking has certainly become a favorite activity of mine in the past month. I bought a Dagger Zydeco, which is a 9' and very lightweight boat. I've had it out on the Swift Creek Reservoir, the Rappahannock River, and the James River. The James is probably my favorite spot at the moment because I can take a really nice paddle upriver through some flat water and then you reach a dam where you can play a little in some rapids.

Anyway, I'm enjoying the exercise and I really like the relaxation it provides. Being out on the river early in the morning or before dusk is great. You can really hear the birds chirping, watch the fish jump, see the turtles out on their rocks, and notice even a small lizard swimming across the rover. I do like the peaceful areas of the river, but I'm looking forward to getting into some minor whitewater in the near future.