Individual hospitals owned by Fountain Valley-based nonprofit MemorialCare Health System are finding other ways to team up with UC Irvine Health.
MemorialCare’s Saddleback Memorial Medical Center and UC Irvine Health, which includes UCI Medical Center in Orange, are now offering a comprehensive stroke care program.
The stroke-care deal “further demonstrates the strong ties between UC Irvine Health and MemorialCare Health System,” Steve Geidt, Saddleback’s chief executive, said in a news release.
Specialty stroke care “complements our recently announced plans to expand access to high-quality, cost-effective healthcare” through opening primary healthcare clinics throughout Orange and Los Angeles counties, Geidt added.
MemorialCare and UC Irvine Health this month said they would work together in an effort to deliver primary healthcare. The partnership will operate health centers that are expected to see an influx of newly insured patients as a result of the Affordable Care Act.
Saddleback Memorial, which has locations in Laguna Hills and San Clemente, was first designated as a stroke receiving center four years ago.
The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization Joint Commission certified it as an advanced primary stroke center in August.
Dr. Shuichi Suzuki, an interventional neurologist and board-certified vascular neurologist at UC Irvine Health, runs the stroke program. Suzuki was just named medical director of neurointerventional services at Saddleback.
Citigroup Lifts Edwards’ Rating
Citigroup upgraded Irvine-based heart valve maker Edwards Lifesciences Corp. roughly two weeks ago.
Analyst Amit Bhalla raised his rating on Edwards to “buy” from “neutral.”
Edwards has faced some slackness in its stock. Shares are down about 16% since the start of the year, with a recent market value of about $8.6 billion.
The device maker has some catalysts that could help its performance, Bhalla wrote in a research note. He mentioned that Edwards is expected to introduce a third-generation version of its Edwards Sapien less-invasive heart valve outside of the United States by the end of the year.
Bhalla added that Edwards should launch another minimally invasive surgical valve next year, when it could also receive another domestic product approval.
Extension for Nonagenarian Study
The University of California, Irvine, will continue a 10-year-old study of Americans in their 90s and older after the National Institute on Aging said it would renew a $9.5 million grant to pay for it.
More than 1,600 people have been examined in the study, which is conducted out of the Clinic for Aging Research & Education in Laguna Woods.
It examines “the distinctive health and lifestyle issues of Americans in their 90s or older,” UCI said in a news release.
Subjects include those with various types of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease.
UCI professors Claudia Kawas and Maria Corrada co-direct the project.
Prosthetic Leg Commercialized
Irvine-based Freedom Innovations Inc. said it’s going to commercialize what it called “the world’s first fully powered prosthetic leg technology with the potential for the human mind to control its movements.”
The device maker received a worldwide licensing deal from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., for the leg’s final development and commercialization.
The prosthetic leg will use mechanical controls that mimic the power and gait characteristics of human legs.
Freedom said future generations of the prosthetic may have neurological control systems that will allow users to guide leg and ankle movements through the brain.
Chief Executive Maynard Carkhuff said Freedom plans to have the leg available within three to five years.
Hospital Gets New CFO
Placentia-Linda Hospital named Chuck Natcher its new chief financial officer. He replaces Kristi Liberatore, who spent more than 15 years at the Tenet Healthcare Corp.-owned facility.
Natcher has more than 23 years of experience as a hospital chief financial officer.
Placentia-Linda has 114 beds. It ranked No. 15 on the Business Journal’s most recent list of top hospitals in Orange County, with $81.2 million in net patient revenue for the 12 months ended in September 2012.
Bits and Pieces
Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach said the National Consortium of Breast Centers in Warsaw, Ind., recognized its breast center. Hoag said the center is one of only 43 in the U.S. that the consortium designated a “certified quality breast center of excellence.” … Irvine-
based medical software maker Quality Systems Inc. won 13 awards in the annual International Business Awards competition. It won two gold awards, four silver awards and seven bronzes, receiving the prizes this month at a ceremony in Barcelona.
