HMA Hospital CEO To Retire Amid Pressure From Hedge Fund Glenview Capital While Investigation Over Admission Procedures Continues With 3rd Party Software Vendor

This is a lot of pressure and the CEO might be stressed to the max with everything piling in here.  Not only do they have the battle and investigation over the admission rates, but now add in the Hedge Fund who wants more of the money action.  HMA operates 71 hospitals in 15 states.  Within Florida, HMA operates Lehigh Regional Medical Center in Lehigh Acres; Charlotte Regional Medical Center and the Peace River Regional Medical Center in Charlotte County; and two Physicians Regional Hospital campuses in Collier County.  Here’s the 60 Minute video from December of 2012 as well as the link back to my original post discussing the software used relative to admissions.

Hospital Admission Rates at HMA Hospitals - Doctors Pressured to Meet Admission Percentages–Algorithms Pushing the Processes Requiring Explanations for Overriding & Not Admitting-Killer Algorithms Chapter 48

Meanwhile the company has adopted the “poison pill” provision to protect itself from a takeover.  In essence you wonder what would a Hedge Fund do with a hospital chain?  I ask this question as it leads into new areas of software and algorithms when it comes to the current investigation which involves software called Pro-Med and how it was used.  Do they want this headache as the jury is still a ways out here with the investigation.  Again we are seeing the 3rd party consultants drawn in more and more with the investigations as that’s who hospitals contract with.  Is is any wonder the retired CEO will pursue church mission work:)   Stockholders have a difficult enough time with choosing investments so add on hedging to the entire business practices of the hospital chain.  You can see at the link below that this is not the only hospital chain facing issues with revenues as they directly relate to admissions. 

Tenet Healthcare Loses $88 Million First Quarter 2013–Admissions Drop, Algorithmic Models Of Insurers Transferring Risk to Patients and Providers Not Working, Why? No Money

On top of that we have our floundering Consumer Protection Chief way over his head from the other side that knows little or nothing about math and business models.  In addition we have those Medicare re-admission penalties that hospitals have to be aware of too, so what’s the deal here? 

Richard Cordray, Fail With Understanding Flawed Models and Algorithms -Big Case of“Algo Duping”With Big Data-Save Time, Hire Quants Who Know How Consumer Financial Models Are Built and Function…Geez

A lot of companies are beginning to buy their own stock back in the markets and that goes right along with the SEC filing made.  As a matter of fact, the CEO is moving to South America to do his work.  It is interesting any more to watch how religion and healthcare intertwine at times relative to decision making and business plans.

As I said a while back banks and insurance companies are really not much more than software companies that control a lot of money and move it for profit.  As long as they are in control and write the code for profit with fantasy numbers we are pretty much stuck as it is modeled for inequality and dead patients can’t be re-admitted.  BD

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Just days after going on the defensive to prevent a company takeover, Health Management Associates said its president and CEO, Gary Newsome, plans to retire, effective July 31.
A news release said the Naples, Fla.-based company has initiated a search for a successor.

Late Friday, HMA said the company had adopted a shareholder rights plan, a defensive move to help prevent a takeover, after 14. 6% shareholder Glenview Capital Management indicated an intention to take an activist role in the company. The chain has been under fire in recent months on a number of legal, public relations and financial fronts.
The hedge fund also filed for antitrust clearance to acquire $2.2 billion of stock, or about 75% of the company.

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130528/NEWS/305289946/hmas-newsome-announces-retirement

Digital Currency–Liberty Reserve Money Laundering Website–“You Can Do Anything With Software”, Until You Get Caught….

This is a little off topic but worth mentioning as this all took place on the web with criminal activities and as the article states there were some legitimate clients in here too who maybe saw the opportunity to transfer anonymous funds and didn’t realize how the whole thing operated, they just wanted no tracking.  This brings up an interesting question about Bitcoin too and how will it survive, grow or go away, who knows.  The entire issue here with working in a regulated environment with not being registered if I read this correctly. 

It does make one wonder how much money did go through the system that will never be detected or found as well.  It also makes you wonder about the activities of HSBC and their money laundering issues t where they were laundering money for Mexican drug cartels and why they were not prosecuted?  It does make one question and ask about payment systems and to make sure it is not a money transmitter too.  You do wonder how many more of these types of operations are out there or how many will attempt to spring up in the future too. 

In the search for privacy and being anonymous you can almost bet we probably have not heard the last as someone will be out there with some new model to work around the system.  For now Liberty is a closed case and website as the Feds cracked down and have indicted several of those involved and this appears to be the largest international money scheme in history.  How long before the next effort arrives, who knows but you can almost bet that it won’t stop anytime soon.  Scroll on down to the footer of this blog and watch the Alchemists of Wall Street Video as that is where the quote in the title came from here and see how math formulas and algorithms work in the legal system to move your money, as there are big issues here too, it’s all done with computer code and math.  BD

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The founder of digital currency system Liberty Reserve has been indicted in the United States along with six other people in a $6 billion money-laundering scheme, in what authorities are calling the largest international money-laundering case ever prosecuted, according to documents unsealed today.

Dubbed the “financial hub of the cyber-crime world,” authorities say Liberty Reserve had more than 1 million users worldwide and processed more than 12 million transactions annually as the favored money-laundering service for carders, hackers and other cybercriminals in the digital underground who used it to transfer money around the world effortlessly and anonymously.

Liberty Reserve was incorporated in Costa Rica in 2006 and had at least 200,000 customers in the U.S., but failed to register in the U.S. as a money-transmitting service.

Although the service had legitimate customers, the anonymity it provided attracted a large clientele from the criminal underground who relied on offshore Liberty Reserve currency exchangers to move their ill-gotten cash in and out of the financial system.

Liberty Reserve is not the first digital currency to get raided by the feds. In 2005, federal agents raided the offices of Gold and Silver Reserve, the Florida-based company that operated E-Gold, the premier digital currency of its time.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/05/liberty-reserve-indicted/

BigData Modeling and Analytics Goes Into Mass Production Based on SaaS Machine Learning Platform to Create Predictive Models in Minutes–Accountability, Accuracy Still Needed By All Means – “Models Without Borders”

Ok, pay attention here as machine learning and analytics continues to grow as the main clients here thus far are healthcare, financial service, and insurance providers.  This should come as no surprise as we all know insurers use analytics all the time and have a long extensive history of doing so, in as much as news in the past has denied consumers services based on some of their algorithms and created numerous law suits.  Models are not bad if they are accurate and paint a good picture than being used to make money only with little or no regard for the ultimate end consumer who is subject to the criteria entered.  When this occurs we end up with the Attack of the Killer Algorithms and a lot of Algo Duping going on with steroid marketing that appears in the news to “sell” said analytics. 

What makes this platform even  more interesting is the ability to “sell” your SaaS model creation as well.  Ok, so are we going to sell something that makes money or solves problems?  It’s the same old issue that we are facing everywhere with models, created by humans or machines.  One thing we all have to remember is that things don’t always play out in the real world as they do in formulas as we are humans and there’s a line of “fantasy” at times when reports are created to substantiate the numbers and the math used.  It’s all about “context” and if you have not seen the video from NYU professor Siefe, give it a view as it does a good job explaining a lot of this.  Here’s the link and it is also permanently embedded in the footer of this blog if you scroll down. We do have to be aware of the “Dark Arts of Mathematical Deception” out there and he was really ahead of his time with the book.  Mathematicians and programmers see a lot of things before they get into the news feeds we see for sure.  I covered some of this last year too with context being everything. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s yet another informative link about model perceptions and how it interacts with data, well worth reading as this is where the future lies with insisting on accountability with models. I think comments from those (i.e. Quants) who build models for a living will be  interesting to hear what they have to say as well.  If anyone can get in and give some accurate opinions, they are the ones to do so as they will also know the model that was used t build this model for creating “models” via SaaS. 

“It’s Not the Data, It’s the Models Stupid”-Big Data Helps But It Is Not the Answer

We see the over dependence or duping all the time with consumers and the government to where those who are not in the tech field assume that models and algorithms will solve all…good example at the link below and why we really need to start thinking about having executive heads in place with some technology in their backgrounds rather than more attorneys and just flat out figureheads that have to guess and rely on staff for everything.  Here’s another yet value question on the Facebook focus here. 

HHS Secretary Sebelius Still Looking for Tech Breakthroughs To Save the Day

Here’s another back link below discussing finding “value” in big data as anyone can create a model, but is the value and accuracy present?  No blog post should be posted about modeling without including a link to former Wall Street Quant Cathy O’Neill who is helping educate all (me too) on how models can lie and how accountability should be required.  You can watch one of her videos here and see what I mean. 

Big Data/Analytics If Used Out of Context and Without True Values Stand To Be A Huge Discriminatory Practice Against Consumers–More Honest Data Scientists Needed to Formulate Accuracy/Value To Keep Algo Duping For Profit Out of the Game

Now that we are or will be mass producing “models without borders” I’m going out on a limb a bit here to pretty much predict that the results may end up in the same odds boat that start ups have, in other words sure with some very simplistic models there will be some use but when it comes to models with substantial use with big data, the value found will be far and few between, in other words sure there will be some created with value but there will be a lot more (again I’m focusing on a large data focus here like a successful start up) that will not have any at all other than to reduce risk and make money.  In essence we just have another set of tools and how they are used, verified, and the accuracy levels will play out when the verification process really gets going. 

Thus, the Australian bankers I think were right when they said that half of all analytics expenditures will be a waste of money.  No matter what you come up with, it still has to play out in the “human” world.  You can do anything with software said Mike Orsinski who wrote the sub prime model and software that all the banks used…keep that thought and scroll down to the footer and watch the Alchemists of Wall Street Documentary below and it will make more sense as this is the only video I have found that really nails it simply for the layman to get an idea of what goes on behind “closed server doors” if you will.  As the full article mentions, this is only one site and there are other companies doing the same thing so it appears we are entering the world of “mass model production” or as Cathy O’Neill has coined, “Methods of Math Destruction” in her lectures.  You can also catch her PBS interview in the footer here as well.  Machine learning does make mistakes too, read about my own encounter with Google and how their machine learning thought I was a fowl, and this post has had many a tech person chuckling by all means, as it does happen.  Now the Google learning algorithm knows that duck can also be a human and I guess I need to conform to a machine compatible name? (grin)  BD

“I’m Sorry Your Google Plus Name Does Not Comply With Google “Names Policies”…Barbara “Duck Algorithm” & Was Using My Real Name All Along…Killer Algorithms Chapter 52

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Machine learning has historically resided within the realm of the data scientist, a Ph.D.-wielding expert trained to glean insights from big data. But with the rapid expansion of digital information, a move is on to democratize data science tools and put the average business analyst on par (almost) with the data expert.

That's the mission of BigML, a Corvallis, Ore.-based startup with a SaaS-based machine learning platform that allows everyday business users to create actionable predictive models within minutes.

BigML opened for business in October 2012 and currently has 3,500 registered users, approximately half of whom have created models. More than 20% of those users have uploaded their own data sources, the company says.

The service is free to try. To get started, you upload data (e.g., an Excel spreadsheet) to BigML's website and create a data set. (Setup can get tricky for novices, and video tutorials are provided.) BigML's interface has several easy-to-use tools such as "one-click" buttons for creating data sets and predictive models. You can change things about your data as well, such as the data set's descriptive name and parsing options.

After creating a model, you can download it for local usage, or share and/or sell it in BigML's public gallery. "There's a big social component to what we're doing, which is the ability to share your model. I can make [a model] available to anybody to use or buy through the gallery on our website," said Shikiar.

BigML's fees are based on the number of "credits" that a customer uses. For instance, 1 TB of space to create datasets equals 1,048,576 credits; 1 TB of data to create new models is 4,194,304 credits; and you'll need 10,000 credits to generate 1 million predictions. The credit total: 5,252,880. Multiple that number by 0.1 cents, and your bill comes to $5,252.88.

http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/news/big-data-analytics/big-data-analytics-for-the-masses/240155617

DOD Says 20 Commercial Software Vendors Capable of Fixing ALTHA Medical Records–Relying on Market Research Opinions Could be Dangerous With Current Day Complexities

I read this article and immediately went to the part to where the recommendation came from and again with as big as the DOD system is and the complexities it immediately created a cloud of doubt as the department would be much better off to get additional information from an area outside of “market research”. 

That used to work in the “old” days but does not suffice very well today. As I keep saying, “the short order code kitchen burned down several years ago and there was no fire sale” and that certainly applies right here.

Sure there are vendors who have taken the VA system and modified it for use in the commercial world and I would think such vendors would be ones the DOD would look at with using a Microsoft Dot Net interface on the front end as has been designed.  It’s been a number of years since I have seen the ALTHA medical records system and one has to remember that record keeping here is unique to real time war and use on the battle field too, so their needs are going to be somewhat unique in some areas relative to some of the real time technologies they need.  If this were a simple project that didn’t involve huge expense and time, it would have been done a long time ago.  Since 2009 Social Security has been sharing records with both the VA and DOD.  We do have some work in progress as noted in the link below from February of this year. 

VA and DOD To Work to Accelerate EHR Integration - CACI International Was Awarded $91 Million Dollar 5 Year Contract in 2010 to Provide the Services-Big IT Infrastructure As Such Requires a Lot of Time/Money

We also recently had the two top IT folks at the VA leave their jobs recently and I might guess they were a little fed up with so many hands in the pot and little modeling and “real” IT type decisions being made.  We have a lot of working parts out there in the medical records with both sides and putting the puzzle together is not going to be easy by all means.  The article also said the VLER funding was separate?  How do you do that?  Data and software needs to come from somewhere….

$91 Million Prime Contract Awarded to Support Medical Record Sharing Veterans Affairs Beneficiaries–VLER-Lifetime Virtual Electronic Record Program– VA and DOD

On the other hand it might take all of the 20 vendors named to create a software system too:)  I think it is dangerous today to rely totally on market research though as it does not address the complexities of how complicated this really is and nor does it address the amount of hours and work that has already been spent here.  Again, complexities and providing the DOD with their real time needs as well as integrating with current VA systems is a huge chore and I can’t think of any other Health IT project that encompasses so many needs and areas of medical records, it is unique.  Sad our folks in DC just see it as “just another decision” and expect budgets and time to “grow on trees” to get it done.  I started out years ago stating that Congress could use some bigger technologies in modeling and creating laws but again they seem to think their brains are above it and we get the constant soap opera rhetoric on a steady diet in the news. 

IBM Watson Going to Work At Citigroup on Wall Street–Congress Didn’t See Big Data As A Tool (Hadoop Framework) When They Had Their Chance…For Consumers The Attack of the Killer Algorithms–Chapter 22

The least Congress could do is take advantage of the tremendous computing power that DOE has in their agency if they won’t look at some new methodologies to model laws.  This is kind if ironic in the fact that all are trying to resolve this issue and the very tools they could use to find the answers lies right in house at the DOE to help qualify and quantify some of the data and needs…(grin)…you really do have t crack a smile here when some of the resources are sitting under their noses that could be used to begin some kind of modeling here as it’s not the data, it’s the models that can help.  BD

1.7 Billion Super Computer Hours Awarded by the DOE–Biomedical Research Projects Included for Parkinson’s and Cancer

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The Defense Department has found 20 commercial software vendors capable of modernizing its electronic health record system, Frank Kendall, undersecretary of Defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, told reporters at the Pentagon today.

Yesterday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel backed the use of commercial software in a memo to Kendall. Hagel said he supported competitive procurements for undefined “core” EHR commercial software systems. Kendall said these procurements will provide a modernized Defense health record to replace the department’s existing Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application system, known as AHLTA.

http://www.nextgov.com/health/2013/05/pentagon-says-20-vendors-can-meet-its-electronic-health-record-needs/63524/

Quality Systems (NextGen EHR Parent Company) Reports 4th Quarter Loss–Goodwill Impairment Charge

Impairment charges are something fairly new in accounting with balance sheets and Investopedia says this:

"Impairment charge" is the new term for writing off worthless goodwill. These charges started making headlines in 2002 as companies adopted new accounting rules and disclosed huge goodwill write-offs (for example, AOL - $54 billion, SBC - $1.8 billion, and McDonald's - $99 million). While impairment charges have since then gone relatively unnoticed, they will get more attention as the weak economy and faltering stock market force more goodwill charge-offs and increase concerns about corporate balance sheets. This article will define the impairment charge and look at its good, bad and ugly effects.

The goodwill charge is normally related to a company paying a higher value to buy another firm, based on their branding, public image, business, etc.  The company had a couple of acquisitions since 2010 and it could or could not relate to the purchase price paid for either one of them.  Here’s a couple back links on the two acquisitions I posted.  BD

Quality Systems (NextGen Systems) to Buy CQI Solutions Hospital Software Company

NextGen Systems (Quality Systems, Inc.) Acquires Opus Healthcare Solutions – Inpatient and Ambulatory Services

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(RTTNews.com) - Quality Systems Inc. ( QSII ) reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $4.09 million or $0.07 per share, compared to profit of $15.07 million or $0.25 per share last year. The company noted that it recorded a goodwill impairment charge to income of $17.4 million for the fiscal 2013 fourth quarter. Proforma net income for the quarter was $12.29 million or $0.21 per share.

On average, 19 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report profit per share of $0.28 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Quality Systems announced that its Board declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.175 per share on its outstanding shares of common stock, payable to shareholders of record as of June 14, 2013 with an anticipated distribution date of July 5, 2013.

http://www.nasdaq.com/article/quality-systems-posts-q4-loss-on-impairment-charge---quick-facts-20130523-00080

Allscripts Files Another Lawsuit, This One Is All About “Noise” Control in Chicago

Allscripts contends their offices or rather their employees working in their offices at the Merchandise Mart can’t function due to all the noise being created as Google is moving in to the top floors and the landlord is preparing and remodeling for their new tenant.  As it reads, noise is not addressed in their lease and so this will end up being some type of a judgment decision.  Google will be the largest tenant in the building when completed.  Allscripts has been a tenant for nine years. 

Allscripts states their employees are irritable and unable to concentrate due to all the noise of the construction work.  Allscripts filed a cease and desist letter to the mart asking them to stop using nail and screw guns as well as other tools that make noise but nobody’s listening.  This case should prove interesting as I don’t think Google’s Motorola Mobility United would be willing to move elsewhere, or on the other hand maybe they would?  Allscripts certainly doesn’t sound ready to move and more than likely they have a lease with conditions as well.  BD

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Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, a nine-year tenant of the River North edifice, is suing its landlord, saying it violated a lease with the health IT company when it started making repairs and improvements to five floors just below Allscripts' offices on the 19th and 20th floors.
“As a result of the noise and vibrations generated by the construction equipment, Allscripts' employees have been unable to concentrate or to conduct regular business activities,” according to the suit, filed Wednesday in Cook County Circuit Court. “Additionally, the constant noise and vibrations generated by the construction equipment has negatively impacted employees' physical and mental well-being, making them anxious, impatient and irritable.”

The owner of the Merchandise Mart, New York-based Tornado Realty Trust, is preparing the space for Google's Motorola Mobility unit, which agreed last year to lease 572,000 square feet in the building and move about 2,300 employees there from Libertyville. It was the largest downtown office lease since 2005.

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130524/INFO/305249994?AllowView=VW8xUmo5Q21TcWJOb1gzb0tNN3RLZ0h0MWg5SVgra3NZRzROR3l0WWRMWGJVZjhGRWxIeU96eTMyWmV1NVhnWUpiV2w=&utm_source=link-20130524-INFO-305249994&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=hits

Valeant Pharmaceuticals from Canada to Buy Bausch and Lomb for $8.7 Billion

Bausch and Lomb had originally plotted an IPO and has changed directions with this acquisition.  Interesting that half the purchase price here is to get rid of the company debt.  Valeant used to be known as ICN, a US corporation years ago and with a merge of another company back in 2010, they moved to Canada for better tax breaks so perhaps with this acquisition those will get bigger?  BD

Valeant Pharmaceuticals and Biovail Merge – Moves to Canada from Orange County For Better Tax Breaks

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10:01 a.m. | Updated Bausch & Lomb, the eye care company, agreed on Monday to sell itself to Valeant Pharmaceuticals International of Canada for about $8.7 billion, sidestepping the lengthier process of an initial public offering.

Under the terms of the deal, Valeant will pay $4.5 billion to the investor group that owns Bausch & Lomb, led by the private equity firm Warburg Pincus. It will also spend about $4.2 billion to repay Bausch & Lomb’s debt.

Valeant, which is based in Laval, Quebec, has made acquisitions a core part of its growth strategy. The Bausch & Lomb deal is the company’s biggest yet, over three times larger than the $2.6 billion purchase of the skin care company Medicis Pharmaceutical last year.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/05/27/bausch-lomb-to-sell-itself-to-valeant-for-8-7-billion/?smid=tw-dealbook&seid=auto