Owens & Minor acquires home health care company for $1.6B
Mechanicsville-based Fortune 500 health care logistics company Owens & Minor Inc. announced Tuesday that it had closed its acquisition of Indianapolis-based Apria Inc. for a cash consideration of $1.6 billion. Owens & Minor funded the purchase with a combination of debt and cash on hand. The company is combining Apria and its Byram Healthcare Centers […]
VCU Health names first COO
Virginia Commonwealth University‘s inaugural chief operations officer is Michael Elliot, effective May 15, the system announced Monday. “Operational excellence matters because it allows us to expand services into more communities,” Elliott said in a statement. “VCU Health is continuing an exciting journey of growth, and I am excited to strengthen our operational efficiency to better [&[...]
Carilion Clinic, Richmond firm part of $3.5M concussion grant
Roanoke-based Carilion Clinic and Richmond’s BRAINBox Solutions Inc. are part of a $3.5 million National Institutes of Health grant to research and develop a new way to diagnose brain injuries in the elderly. The research will include enrolling 300 patients with head trauma and 70 patients as controls. Patients will be followed for a year […]
LewisGale Medical Center names new COO
Salem-based LewisGale Medical Center has named Willie Payton Jr. its new chief operating officer, the hospital announced March 17. Payton comes to the 506-bed acute-care medical and surgical facility from Johnston-Willis Hospital in Richmond, where he was vice president of operations. “We are excited to welcome Willie to our executive team and leverage his experience […]
Smithfield Foods division makes new medical device
Smithfield Foods Inc.’s Cincinnati-based porcine-derived medical products unit, Smithfield BioScience, and Atlanta-based medical device company BioCircuit Technologies announced Wednesday that the two will produce a medical device for nerve repair after traumatic injuries. The device, called Nerve Tape, will allow nerve repair without stitches. It is an implantable device made from pig small[...]
BIO-CAT plans $35M expansion in Troy
BIO-CAT Microbials LLC, part of BIO-CAT Inc., will invest $35 million in a fermentation facility in Troy, southeast of Charlottesville, creating 20 jobs, the company announced March 3. The biotech company is a producer and wholesaler of enzymes, probiotics and microbials. Founded in 1988, BIO-CAT Microbials will expand its facility to include fermentation capabilities. That […]
Owens & Minor donates PPE to Ukraine
Mechanicsville-based Fortune 500 health care logistics company Owens & Minor announced Monday that it is donating $500,000 in medical-grade personal protective equipment to support humanitarian relief in Ukraine and other impacted countries. The donations, which includes exam gloves, masks and gowns, was coordinated across distribution centers in Chicago, Pittsburg and Philadelphia to speed [...]
VCU Health makes interim CFO permanent
Virginia Commonwealth University Health System named James Siegel, who has served as the interim chief financial officer since June 2021, its permanent CFO on Thursday. “James has done an exemplary job leading us through financially challenging times, while positioning the system for financial success in the future,” Dr. Art Kellermann, CEO of VCU Health System […]
Newsweek ranks U.Va. Medical Center top Va. hospital
Newsweek ranked Charlottesville’s University of Virginia Medical Center as the No. 1 hospital in Virginia in its World’s Best Hospitals 2022 guide, which was released March 2. “Our team members have faced incredible challenges over the past two years during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they have persevered to provide excellent care for all of our […]
HCA hires Chippenham Hospital chief nursing officer
M. Lea Lee will become chief nursing officer of Chippenham Hospital on April 4, HCA Virginia announced Tuesday. Lee currently serves as the chief nursing officer for LewisGale Medical Center in Salem and will be returning to Richmond. She has previously worked with HCA Healthcare. In 2007, she was Chippenham Hospital’s nursing director before she […]
Code red
Although many business sectors focused on moving on from the COVID-19 pandemic once vaccines became broadly available in 2021, Virginia’s health care industry has remained heavily burdened by continuing caseload surges and extreme staffing shortages. In September 2021, Gov. Ralph Northam voiced frustration at a news conference, saying, “It’s getting to the point where we […]
Eyes on the future
In 2021, a year marked by continuing pandemic uncertainty and overloaded health care systems, philanthropists and corporations gave generously, supporting construction and research projects at Virginia universities and hospitals. Following 2020, a year that saw record-breaking donations to Hampton, Norfolk State and Virginia State universities by billionaire MacKenzie Scott, 2021 saw similarly gen[...]