HCP Inc. in four days will lose President and Chief Investment Officer Justin Hutchens, who leaves the Irvine-based healthcare facility real estate investment trust June 1 to become chief executive at U.K.-based homecare operator HC-One Ltd. in a move HCP announced April 3.
Hutchens had held HCP’s top investment role since September 2015 and was named president in January on the same day HCP tapped then-Chief Financial Officer Tom Herzog to be chief executive.
Herzog in an earnings call on May 2 called the CIO role “an extremely important hire for us,” and HCP on May 15 chose Scott Brinker to fill it. The REIT set a Jan. 4 start date for him, with a compensation package starting at $650,000 base salary; an annual bonus targeted at $1.1 million; $5 million in stock that vests over six years; and up to $1.75 million in annual equity awards. Up to $150,000 in moving expenses is also on the table.
Brinker was most recently chief investment officer at Welltower Inc. in Toledo, Ohio, and had held investment and portfolio roles with the healthcare facility REIT from July 2001 through his departure in January, according to LinkedIn.
Welltower agrees on Brinker’s importance. It said in Ohio court filings this month that Brinker had “violated his separation agreement with Welltower by engaging in discussion with one of its competitors, HCP Inc.”
The parties have agreed to modify the temporary restraining order and expedited discovery motions filed by Welltower on May 15.
“We offered a job to Scott Brinker … after his job was eliminated by one of our competitors. Scott is under a noncompete restriction until January 2018, and we made it clear that his employment would not start until such restriction has concluded,” HCP said in a company statement.
Brinker fits HCP’s bill—Herzog on the earnings call said it wanted a “chief investment officer with experience in the private pay healthcare real estate space”—and noncompete agreements aren’t allowed in California—but it’s another cross-wind in HCP’s recent efforts to stabilize its ship, including executive changes and real estate sales.
Then-Chief Executive Lauralee Martin left in July, and Herzog got the CEO nod in January. HCP spun off or sold over 400 noncore properties—mostly skilled nursing and senior living locations where HCP got paid by government reimbursement.
It’s now focused on private-pay senior housing, and owning life science and medical office space. Welltower also repositioned its portfolio toward private pay—senior housing and post-acute care—and medical office buildings.
HCP earned $374 million last year on $2 billion in revenue and trades at a $15 billion market cap.
Welltower earned $1 billion on $4.2 billion in revenue last year and trades at a $27 billion market cap.
Rides for Patients
St. Joseph Health in Irvine began to schedule rides for patients this month—in-patient discharge and outpatient, post-procedure returns—with Santa Monica startup Ride N Care Inc.
St. Joseph Health includes 16 hospitals, physician organizations, home health agencies, hospice care services and outpatient services. Case managers will monitor the program.
“Access to transportation is a critical determinant of good health,” said Annette Walker, St. Joseph Health chief executive and president of strategy for its parent company, Washington-based Providence St. Joseph Health.
Drivers are trained to help with seniors and those recovering from a hospital stay. Rides are offered around the clock, and appointments can be made via mobile app or phone; patients can also schedule rides on a direct-pay basis.
Ride N Care co-founder and General Counsel Steven Blake said the company already serves FountainGlen senior living sites—OC locations include Fullerton, Huntington Beach, Laguna Niguel and Rancho Santa Margarita. He said co-founder and Chief Executive Danilo Toskovic developed the concept while transporting patients for University of California-Los Angeles Medical Center.
Bits & Pieces
Irvine-based device maker Masimo Corp. said research it funded with the University of California-Irvine on 135 patients showed continuous hemoglobin monitoring can help reduce unnecessary blood transfusions in surgeries. … Desert Oasis Healthcare in Palm Springs, part of Garden Grove-based Heritage Provider Network Inc., will work with Altura LLC in Mission Viejo to recruit better patients into more health studies. Altura makes mobile apps that connect patients, studies and healthcare providers. … Medtronic PLC said its drug-eluting stent, Resolute Onyx 2.0 mm, reported positive results for the treatment of coronary disease in extra-small vessels tested across 20 sites in the U.S. and Japan. A drug-eluting stent is an implant placed in coronary arteries that slowly releases a drug. The Dublin, Ireland-based medical device company’s Irvine campus specializes in developing products for heart diseases and stroke.
