IMCO (Independent Medical Co-op) (Daytona Beach, FL) honored its Winners Circle Master Sales Reps and Master Sales Managers for the 2011 Winners Circle National Sales Program. IMCO also announced the members of THE Winners Circle for 2011. It recognized Sergio Bustamante, American Medical Supplies & Equipment (Miami, FL); Kathy Bradford, Midland Medical Supply (Lincoln, NE); Laura Becko, MMS - A Medical Supply Company (Earth City, MO); Brian Butterworth, MMS; Lisa Calliott, MMS; David Marion, Seneca Medical Inc (Tiffin, OH); Debbie Breen, Seneca Medical; David Ellis, Tarheel Physicians Supply (Wilmington, NC); Drew Borske, Midland Medical Supply; and Matt Wright, Tarheel Physicians Supply. IMCO also recognized the Winners Circle Rookie of the Year, Courtney Ward, Sun Surgical Supply (Gainesville, FL); Winners Circle Vendor of the Year, Miltex Integra (York, PA); and Winners Circle Vendor Rep of the Year, Roger Irie, John Winkeler Associates (St. Louis, MO).

Medtronic Inc (Minneapolis, MN) was notified by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts that federal prosecutors closed their investigation of Medtronic related to INFUSE Bone Graft. Additional details were not disclosed.

SurgLine Inc (Newport Beach, CA), a provider of high quality, low cost surgical products, acquired Eden Surgical Technologies LLC (Southlake, TX), a distributor of trauma products with extensive products focused on this highly profitable sector. The deal will substantially expand SurgLine's offering of trauma products while providing the company with pricing it believes will give a competitive advantage in the marketplace. SurgLine acquired Eden pursuant to a Share Exchange Agreement in exchange of 50 million shares of restricted common stock of SurgLine International Inc, a holding company.

Varian Medical Systems Inc (Palo Alto, CA) will showcase radiosurgery technologies for treating early-stage inoperable lung cancer and other conditions non-invasively at the 2012 International Conference of the American Thoracic Society (ATS) later this week in San Francisco. Varian will exhibit RapidArc Radiosurgery on its TrueBeam™ STx system. This technology enables clinicians to precisely target and rapidly treat tumors using finely shaped high-energy X-ray beams. The TrueBeam STx system was engineered to enable precise, efficient treatment, two to eight times faster than other radiosurgery machines.

Avera Health (Sioux Falls, SD) and Saint Mary's Hospital (Pierre, SD) signed a letter of intent to explore the possibility of Saint Mary's joining the Avera network either through a merger, sale or other relationship. Saint Marys' campus includes an administrative building that was the old hospital, Maryhouse Long Term Care (Pierre, SD) nursing home with 105 beds, and ParkWood Independent Living Apartments (Pierre, SD) with 58 apartments for seniors. Gettysburg Medical Center (Gettysburg, SD) also is part of Saint Mary's. It includes a 10-bed hospital, Oahe Manor (Gettysburg, SD) long-term care facility, and Oahe Villa (Gettysburg, SD) Alzheimer's unit. Saint Mary's is the only South Dakota hospital currently owned by Catholic Health Initiatives (Englewood, CO). A timeline and further details were not disclosed.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) (Washington, DC) will make available $75 million in funding for the construction and renovation of school-based health centers. The School-Based Health Center Capital (SBHCC) Program, created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), enables children with acute or chronic illnesses to attend school, as well as help to improve the overall health and wellness of children and adolescents through health screenings, health promotion and disease prevention activities.

LHP Hospital Group (Plano, TX) completed its previously announced JV agreement with Sacred Heart Health System (Pensacola, FL), under which they will jointly operate 286-bed Bay Medical Center (BMC) (Panama City, FL). The 40-year, $154 million lease agreement relieves BMC of its debt obligations and allows it to continue its charity-care policy. Proceeds from the deal will be used to pay off BMC's $115 million in debt. Sacred Heart and LHP will jointly share representation on BMC's governing board, and a local board of trustees comprised of community members and physicians will manage day-to-day operations. BMC's employees will become affiliates of LHP.

Saint Mary's Medical Center of Scott County (Oneida, TN) will close on May 24, 2012 after it failed to negotiate a lease extension agreement with Health Management Associates (HMA) (Naples, FL). HMA assumed the lease on the hospital when it acquired seven-hospital Mercy Health Partners Knoxville (Knoxville, TN) from Catholic Health Partners (Cincinnati, OH) on October 1, 2011 for $525 million. The county sought a 60-day extension on the lease that would have bought it more time to find a buyer for the hospital. Admissions will cease over the next week at Saint Mary's and patients will be transferred to other facilities. Hospital employees who remain with the facility until May 24 will receive pay and health benefits until July 15, 2012.

Amerinet Inc (St. Louis, MO) unveiled its new Amerinet Executive Resources (AER) website and mobile application, an easy to use tool providing current news, education and solutions for healthcare executives. AER features RSS feeds geared toward current and relevant business and healthcare news, briefing and webinars from Amerinet and its partners and links to clinical, operational and financial solutions, including the Amerinet Value-Based Purchasing Analyzer. An "Amerinet Exec" icon can be added to users' phones or tablets. The education portion of the site features the Amerinet Executive Series, Collective Learning on Contemporary Healthcare Issues for Executive Leadership, a collaboration of leaders from Amerinet member organizations and the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice who offer best practice initiatives from their organizations. The Series offers interactive webinars, live events, briefs, white papers and informative videos to deliver education, information and effective initiatives in place at peer organizations.

Quotes last updated at 5/16/2012 9:40:13 PM EST