Asurion to add 100 Georgia jobs
We missed this last week but it's still worth pointing out: Asurion, the marketer of cell phone and mobile device insurance, will expand its software development team in Atlanta by at least 100 people. Company officials say the city's technology base was a big factor in their decision, but at least $500,000 in incentives doesn't hurt, either.
M*Modal, Allscripts to partner
M*Modal Inc. announced Friday it has entered into a strategic reseller and development relationship with Allscripts for its speech and language understanding technology Speech Understanding.
The announcement follows Thursday’s announcement that M*Modal (formerly MedQuist Holdings) will integrate its speech recognition wares into the radiology and imaging services being marketed nationally by Merge Healthcare.
Of note, Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc. is headquartered in Chicago but has a major presence in Raleigh, from which many M*Modal executives are working even though the company is based in Franklin.
M*Modal provides technology involving clinical narrative capture services and clinical documentation workflow.
Qualifacts touts banner year
Health care technology company Qualifacts last year turned in record numbers lthat included 32 percent sales growth. In an announcement, CEO David Klements said, “Looking forward to 2012, we remain focused on reducing the cost and risk for providers looking to implement a new EHR. And for those organizations that have already selected CareLogic, we will increase our investments in product innovation to ensure our customers are well positioned for the future.”
Other highlights from 2011 include:
· 39 new behavioral health/human services agencies added to the customer base
· 43 new implementation projects successfully completed, including six EHR collaboratives
· 34 eligible professionals from eight providers using Qualifacts’ certified complete EHR CareLogic Enterprise received first-year Medicaid Meaningful Use incentive payments totaling $722,500 and are eligible for more than $2 million over the life of the program.
· The CareLogic community grew by more than 35 percent, adding 6,000 new users
· More than 1.2 million behavioral health consumers are currently served by CareLogic users
· Qualifacts now serves providers in 23 states with new customers in Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina and Louisiana.
BofA sells some more HCA
According to SEC filings and MMD Newswire, Bank of America has shed a little more of its HCA position selling 4 percent of its remaining stake (171,623 shares) worth roughly $4 million.
If we look over the past 12 months, Bank Of America Corp /de/ has sold a total of 21,172,054 shares of Hca Holdings, Inc, proceeds from the sale totaled $611,544,485. Over the same time period, Bank Of America Corp /de/ has purchased 5,044 shares of Hca Holdings, Inc, with a total cost of $151,703. Bank Of America Corp /de/ has also performed other transactions including dispositions .
Let's take a quick, high-level look at insider trading at Hca Holdings, Inc over the past 12 months. A total of 188,407,240 shares of Hca Holdings, Inc stock was sold by insiders, totaling $5,497,564,363. Over the same time 12 month time period, 749,799 shares of Hca Holdings, Inc, for a total value of $72,748,382 were purchased by company insiders.
iostudio grows D.C. office
Advertising agency iostudio has added to its office footprint in Washington, where it does business just blocks from the White House. Officials at the company, which does a lot of work for the National Guard, say the move is part of a broader plan to add more than 100 employees in 2012. That would top 2011's pace for the company, which was one of our 2011 Best Employers and now employs about six people in the nation's capital.
Mars launches value-price dog food at Dollar General
Williamson County-based Mars Petcare is bringing to market Butcher's Selects, a line of dog food, exclusively through Dollar General stores. Mars officials say their product compares in taste to some Eukanuba offerings, but will sell for less.
HealthSpring sale nearing finish line
HealthSpring says its pending $3.8 billion sale to Cigna could be wrapped earlier than had been expected. The deal now could close as early as next week.
A whopping 1.7%
The U.S. economy grew by 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter, helped by the fastest inventory growth in a year and a half. But 2011 as a whole will go into the history books — until the numbers are revised a few times, that is — showing GDP growth of just 1.7 percent.
Golf retailer to open store in Brentwood
A national golf equipment retailer has set its sights on the Nashville market in 2012. Golfsmith International Holdings says Middle Tennessee is one of the 10 markets into which it will expand this year. (Chattanooga is another, which will give the company three stores in Tennessee.) A spokeswoman said the company has signed a lease to fill the former Borders location on Franklin Road in Brentwood and will open the doors to its new store in March. The space encompasses about 24,000 square feet.
Austin-based Golfsmith (Ticker: GOLF) runs almost 80 locations in more than 20 states from coast to coast, including one in Memphis. Its typical store takes up about 20,000 square feet, although some are three times as large, and rang up average 2010 sales of about $3.9 million. Through the first nine months of 2011, the company earned $6.5 million on sales of $313 million.
Analyst: HCA stock lacks catalyst
Analyst Glen Losev at Auriga Securities says various macro factors — think a slow recovery, a Medicare overhang and people putting off surgeries — will continue to make life harder for hospital operators in 2012. That means HCA shares (Ticker: HCA) have little room to run after their one-month climb of 11 percent, leading Losev to lower his rating on the company to 'hold' from 'buy.'
