Grand Rounds August


Cogent Healthcare Launches New Intensivist Service Line

In June, Cogent Healthcare announced an expansion of its services to include intensivist programs for hospital and health system clients. The new offering, which is being officially launched after a successful pilot with St. Bernardine Medical Center in San Bernardino, Calif., is tailored to benefit critically ill medical and surgical patients being treated in intensive care units (ICU).
 
To strengthen the intensivist programs, The Cogent Group, the consulting arm of Cogent Healthcare, provides assessment and evaluation for hospital or health system's ICUs to determine the necessary workforce and workflow-level of the program. The targeted results of the intensivist program include improved quality of care, increased patient outcomes, fewer adverse events, more efficient use of resources, and improved patient, staff and physician satisfaction.
 

Meharry School of Dentistry Dean Retires, College Launches National Search for Replacement

In mid-July Meharry Medical College president and CEO Wayne J. Riley, MD, MPH, MBA, announced the retirement of the Dean of the Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry, William B. Butler, DDS, MS, FACP. Butler has served in this position for the past 10 years. His retirement is effective July 31.
 
Butler has been with Meharry for 33 years. During his tenure, he served as chair of the Department of Prosthodontics for 16 years and associate dean for Academic Affairs for one year before his appointment as dean. Notable accomplishments under Butler's time as dean include upgrades to the dental equipment in all dental schools, implementation of the first White Coat Ceremony for junior dental students and establishment of a dental implantology program and electronic dental records. Under Butler's leadership, Meharry successfully completed a rigorous accreditation site visit conducted by the American Dental Association Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) that resulted in a "sterling" review for the School of Dentistry.
 
Two-time Meharry Alumnus Billy R. Ballard, DDS, MD, will serve as interim dean while Meharry launches a national search for a new dean. Butler will continue serving at Meharry as professor emeritus in the Department of Restorative Dentistry and senior advisor to President Riley.
 

Centerstone Names Batson Regional Medical Authority for Adult Psychiatric Services in Davidson County

Centerstone recently announced Alicia Batson, MD, has been named Regional Medical Authority for Adult Psychiatric Services in Davidson County. In this role, Batson will provide leadership for Centerstone's Davidson County-based medical teams who provide psychiatric services for adults.
 
Batson has been a psychiatrist for Centerstone for nearly two years. Previously, she served as assistant professor of Internal Medicine and Psychiatry at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and worked in adult primary care on the Psychiatric Consult Service at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She earned her medical degree from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Memphis and completed the Internal Medicine and Psychiatry Combined Residency Program at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.
 

Mark Your Calendar

Great Prostate Cancer Challenge Set for Sept. 11
Rain or shine, Nashville will host its annual 5KRun/1 Mile Fun Walk as part of the Great Prostate Cancer Cahllenge® (GPPC). The event begins at 7:30 am on Saturday, Sept. 11 at Centennial Park. In 2009, more than $50,000 was raised to support prostate cancer research and education for the city of Nashville.
 
The GPCC is the only physician-based prostate cancer awareness and fund-raising program in the country. Urology Associates, P.C. joined the GPCC in 2008 to create awareness and raise funds for prostate cancer research in the Middle Tennessee region. Fourteen cities in the past 3 years have now committed to the GPCC cause for 2010 and more cities are in the works for the coming years Last year, a new partner and beneficiary, ZERO — The Project to End Prostate Cancer, joined forces with the GPCC, in its efforts to help save lives through screening, awareness and advocacy. 
 
For more information or to register, go online to: www.greatprostatecancerchallenge.com/nashville.html.
 

Radsource Launches Collaboration with Renowned Musculoskeletal Radiologist

Last month, Brentwood-based Radsource, LLC began an academic collaboration with Donald Resnick, MD, professor of Radiology and chief of Osteoradiology at the University of California – San Diego. A world-renowned musculoskeletal radiologist, Resnick will work with Radsource to help educate his musculoskeletal radiology fellows. Resnick has published more than 850 peer-reviewed articles and has authored 25 textbooks and book chapters.
 

SCRI's Bendell Presented Colorectal Trial Results at Recent Global Conference

Last month, Sarah Cannon Research Institute's director, Gastrointestinal Research and associate director, Drug Development, Johanna Bendell, MD, presented the safety findings of a trial for one of the latest agents under investigation in colorectal cancer during the World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer in Barcelona, Spain.
 
Bendell shared the safety results of a phase 2 trial of GDC-0449 with chemotherapy and bevacizumab (Avastin) as initial treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer. GDC-0449 inhibits the hedgehog signaling pathway, which gives cells information that they need to make the embryo develop properly and has been implicated in the development of some cancers.
 
"Results from phase 1 trials show that hedgehog pathway inhibitors can be very effective for certain types of cancer," Bendell said.
 

PharmMD's Brad Tice Appointed as Speaker-elect of APhA

Brad Tice, PharmD., chief clinical officer of PharmMD, has been appointed as Speaker-elect of the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) House of Delegates. Tice will serve in this role until the next Annual Meeting in March 2011. At which time, he will be installed in the Office of Speaker and serve for two years. 
 
Tice has led the development of the documentation and analytics platform that PharmMD pharmacists use to deliver services, including the development of the CPL (Clinical Programming Language) to enable pharmacists to improve care at the population level and measure the results of their services. As Speaker-elect, he will serve as a officer of the APhA House of Delegates and assist the APhA Speaker in directing policy process.
 

Vanderbilt First to Use Specialized PET/CT Scan to Uncover Cancerous Tumors

Vanderbilt University Medical Center and affiliated VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System are the first in the United States to perform a specialized PET/CT scan to successfully locate the presence of tumors. The improved imaging allows surgeons to more easily locate and remove cancerous tumors, according to Ronald Walker, MD, professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences.
 
Walker and Jeffrey Clanton, associate in Radiology and Radiological Sciences, performed the first U.S. diagnosis at Vanderbilt on a 49-year-old lung cancer patient. "The current method of imaging tumors can best be described as trying to see the sun through the clouds," Walker said. "But this new radiotracer removes all of the clouds."
 
The 68Ga-DOTATATE PET/CT scan offers higher resolution and sensitivity locating tumors. Although performed in Europe, this specialized type of radiologic scan has been viewed in the U.S. as offering only limited benefit to a small number of cancer patients. However a recent increase of neuroendocrine cancers seen at Vanderbilt led Walker and his associates to more widely apply usage of this new technology. Vanderbilt expects to open a fully-operational neuroendocrine center in early 2011.
 

Nashville Medical Trade Center Leadership Team Expands

Market Center Management Company, the management company of trade centers and trade events around the world, recently announced the expansion of the management team for the Nashville Medical Trade Center. To respond to increasing interest, Mike Murphy has joined the project as senior advisor and will be responsible for securing long-term lease agreements. He will also contribute to the strategic planning regarding the development and management of the trade center. Murphy has worked in the healthcare industry for more than three decades.
 
Jeff Haynes and the Nashville office of Boyle Investment Company will also add to the center's resources. Haynes brings the commercial real estate experience and unique resources of Tennessee-based Boyle Investment Company to the project. He joins the leasing team with special responsibility for regional healthcare and health services companies. 
 
The Nashville Medical Trade Center is slated to open in early 2013.
 

Leadership Health Care Announces Board

The Nashville Health Care Council recently announced the Leadership Health Care (LHC) program's board leadership and five new directors for fiscal year 2010-2011.  
 
An initiative of the Council, LHC fosters the talents of Nashville's next generation of healthcare industry leaders by creating educational, networking and mentoring opportunities for its more than 550 individual members. 
 
Melissa Waddey, COO, Summit Medical Center, HCA/TriStar Health System, serves as chairman for 2010-2011, and Chris Bangerter, chief compliance officer, LifePoint Hospitals, is vice chair. The following new directors joined the LHC Board: Frazer Buntin – president & CEO, Silvercare Solutions; Kipp Kranbuhl – director, Gladstone Capital; Maggie Spalding – vice president, Alliant Healthcare Solutions; and Beth Workman – chief accounting officer, DSI Renal.
 
The following board members were re-elected to serve three-year terms on the board: Immediate past-chairman Bo Bartholomew – president and CEO, PharmMD; Jim Kinser – director, Provider Networks, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee; Angela Humphreys – member, Bass, Berry & Sims; and Mark Wainner –vice president, Operations, AmSurg.
 

Local Design Firm to Lend Experience in the UK

Nashville-based ProjX, LLC, an international healthcare consultant and architectural programmer, has procured a contract to provide oversight design services in the United Kingdom. The experience in outpatient care methodologies offered by ProjX has gained the attention of many international hospital providers seeking to expand these services in a patient friendly and efficient manner.
 
ProjX was contracted specifically to introduce American-style outpatient staffing and flow patterns by making design modifications and additions to the existing hospitals in the system. Ira Chilton, a ProjX architect, will be going to the UK to work with a leading provider of independent hospital services in England, with a current network of 22 acute hositals, as they begin the upgrades for the first facilities. 
 

Meharry Medical College One of the Nation's Top Producers of Primary Care Physicians

A recent study from the Annals of Internal Medicine ranks Meharry Medical College as one of the nation's top producers of primary care physicians and second highest in "social mission score."
 
The first-of-a-kind quantitative study funded by the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation ranked all the nation's 141 allopathic and osteopathic medical schools based on three metrics: 1999-2001 medical school graduates who practice in primary care, number of medical school graduates who work in health professional shortage areas and number of physician graduates who are underrepresented minorities in medicine. The three metrics combined create a social mission score and ranking. Morehouse School of Medicine ranked first in social mission while Meharry came in at number two.
 

Qualifacts Announces Additions to Company's Leadership Team

Nashville-based Qualifacts Systems Inc., the largest Software as a Service (SaaS) provider of electronic health record and enterprise management systems to behavioral health and human service providers, recently announced the addition of two key members to its executive management team.
 
Jason Medlin, Qualifacts' new vice president of sales, will lead the sales and customer success teams and be responsible for new business acquisition. Medlin, who holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, joins Qualifacts from the Medical Division of Henry Schein, Inc. where he served as director of marketing and strategy.
 
Ben Bredesen, Qualifacts' new vice president of marketing, is responsible for all new client marketing initiatives as well as maintaining a key role in new product development. Bredesen has been with Qualifacts since 2003, serving in a variety of roles including director of software development, and most recently as the company's senior solutions architect.
 

BlueCross Appoints New Corporate Medical Director

Hugh Kelley Riley, MD, recently joined BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee's healthcare services division as corporate medical director for the greater Nashville area. He will act as the lead clinician for corporate initiatives in the Nashville regional office.
 
Riley also will serve as an expert resource to employer accounts, working with them to address cost and quality needs for their employee health benefit plans and will act as a liaison and educator to network providers, as well as a consultant to BCBST personnel on such topics as healthcare economics, provider practice pattern analysis, health informatics initiatives and sales and account support.
 

Capella Healthcare Secures New Funding for Growth

Franklin-based Capella Healthcare has completed a public debt financing transaction, officials announced at the end of June. The newly issued debt positions Capella for future growth and allowed the company to lock in attractively priced long-term funding. The transaction consists of $500 million in senior unsecured notes, due in 2017. Proceeds will be used to refinance first lien credit facilities and a second-lien term loan. Capella also reached agreement with lenders on a $100 million asset-based revolving credit facility.
 
Capella partners with mid-size communities to build strong local healthcare systems, and presently operates 13 hospitals in seven states. With this debt financing and the ongoing backing of equity partner GTCR Golder Rauner of Chicago, Capella has access to significant resources for the expansion and improvement of its hospitals and the services they provide. Named one of Tennessee's Fastest Growing Companies in 2009, the company has experienced more than 250 percent growth in revenue over the past three years.
 

Neurosurgery Team Joins Southern Hills Medical Center

Southern Hills Medical Center recently welcomed Christopher Taleghani, MD, and Sanat Dixit, MD, both board certified neurosurgeons to the staff.
 
Taleghani received his medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine and Dixit graduated from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. The team worked together at Pennsylvania State University, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in neurosciences.
 

Woods Cain-Swope Relocates to Belle Meade Hill Center

Woods Cain-Swope (WCS), an all female gynecology practice, has relocated from Saint Thomas Hospital to the Belle Meade Hill Center. The practice, which has been in operation for eight years is operated by partners Grayson N. Woods, MD, and Christina L. Cain-Swope, MD. It has surgery affiliations with Saint Thomas Surgicare, Centennial Surgery Center, Baptist & Vanderbilt Hospitals. The new practice offers a more customized experience for patients with a spa-like atmosphere complemented by the latest technology.
 

SCRI Adds Leadership to the Global Services Division

The Global Services Division of Sarah Cannon Research Institute (SCRI) has named A. Collier Smyth, MD, director, medical strategy; Debbie Haynes senior director, development strategy and operations; and Carol Greenlees, PhD, senior director, global clinical operations.
 
SCRI's Global Services specializes in clinical research services with a focus on oncology drug development programs and works with investigative sites on a global platform. Available services as part of an integrated trial management program include project management, clinical monitoring, data management, biostatistics, safety, medical writing, quality assurance and data safety monitoring boards.
 
Smyth, who retired from Bristol-Myers Squibb in March 2009, has more than 30 years of building and leading physician and pharmaceutical organizations devoted to oncology. He currently serves on the advisory board of Ken Clark International and on the board of directors of Ariad Pharmaceuticals, EpiCept Corporation and ClinOps LLC. He also consults with Poniard Pharmaceuticals.
 
Haynes has 15 years of drug development experience and comes most recently from Genentech U.K.'s Office of International Development, where she was the regional head for Europe, Middle East and Africa. She also has held leadership positions in regulatory affairs with pharmaceutical companies Johnson & Johnson, Dainippon Sumitomo, Daiichi and Elan in the United Kingdom.
 
Greenlees has 13 years' experience in clinical operations and program management for biotechnology companies and contract research organizations in the United Kingdom. Most recently, she was head of European clinical operations for Antisoma Research Limited, where she had oversight of the delivery of clinical trials in Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and the United States.
 

Virginia Hospital Selects CredenceHealth for Patient Quality Initiative

CredenceHealth, a provider of real-time clinical intelligence for hospitals and health plans, announced that Virginia Hospital Center, a not-for-profit hospital in Arlington, Va., had selected the Nashville-based company for the hospital's latest patient quality improvement initiative.  
 
Virginia Hospital Center has been recognized as a leader in quality by a number of national, independent healthcare ratings companies like Hospital Value Index™, Healthgrades and CareChex®, which use measurements such as mortality, complications, inpatient quality, core measures, patient safety and patient satisfaction to evaluate hospital performance. Justin Lanning, president and CEO of CredenceHealth stated, "We are excited to partner with such a nationally-recognized leader in quality of care. We are committed to helping Virginia Hospital Center continue its industry-leading focus on delivering high-quality care in the most effective and efficient manner."
 

Freeman Joins LBMC

Lattimore Black Morgan & Cain, PC (LBMC), one of the Southeast's largest accounting and business consulting firms, has added Bryant "Buck" W. Freeman in its Brentwood office. Freeman has joined the accounting firm in a staff position in the accounting and assurance services department. His previous experience includes providing healthcare IT consulting and implementing financial software as a business systems analyst for Healthcare Management Systems. 
 

STHS Outpatient Rehabilitation Opens in White House

Comprised of two divisions – Baptist Sports Medicine and Life Therapies – Saint Thomas Health Services (STHS) Outpatient Rehabilitation announced the grand opening of a 2,500 square-foot healthcare and outpatient rehabilitation services clinic in White House, Tenn. last month.

 
The clinic is the first of many to open as part of a partnership with BH1, a local not-for-profit group. Services offered include sports and orthopaedic rehabilitation, physical therapy, lymphedema therapy, neurological rehabilitation, vestibular rehabilitation and women's health rehabilitation.
 
The joint-venture with BH1 will result in the creation of up to 15 new Baptist Sports Medicine and Life Therapies clinics over the next 18 months. They will be located throughout the state and into northern Alabama and southern Kentucky. Specific markets are still under review.
 

Z-LASIK Arrives in Middle Tennessee

Daniel Bregman, MD, a refractive & cataract eye surgeon with Eye Health Partners of Middle Tennessee, Inc. (EHP), has broken new ground in Nashville on the latest technology available for vision correction by performing the first Femto LDV LASIK procedure in the state last month. "With the introduction of 'Z-LASIK' using the Femto LDV Laser, I felt it was time for Eye Health Partners to add 'bladeless LASIK' to its menu of options for patients," said Dr. Bregman. "Femto LDV offers such distinct advantages over other lasers commonly used for LASIK in Nashville that I felt compelled to offer the procedure to our patients. EHP patients now have more options when it comes to LASIK vision correction. This is the most exciting addition to our refractive surgery practice in the last two years," he added emphatically. 

 
The Ziemer Femto LDV laser offers improved features such as better surgeon control, no wait time between the flap creation and the laser treatment, lower rates of thermal related complications, easier flap lifts for re-treatments, and decreased suction time.
 

Abe's Garden Receives $1.5 Million from Memorial Foundation

Abe's Garden, a nonprofit organization developing a center of excellence for residential living and day care for those suffering from Alzheimer's disease, has received a $1.5 million grant from the Memorial Foundation. Abe's Garden has now raised $5 million towards the $9 million in capital necessary to complete Phase 1 of the multi-phase facility to be located on the Woodmont Boulevard Park Manor campus.
 
The grant brings the project to within $1 million of the funds necessary to proceed with construction of Phase 1, which is anticipated to begin before the end of 2010. Phase 1 components include significant additions and renovations to Park Manor and its senior independent residences, assisted living units and the innovative, evidence-based Alzheimer's day care center to be known as The Club at Abe's Garden. 
 
J.D. Elliott, president of the Memorial Foundation said, "On behalf of our Board of Directors, I would like to express how pleased we are to partner with Abe's Garden as a lead funder in support of the development of a comprehensive plan of care for Alzheimer's patients and their families."
 

Local Medical Technology Consulting Firm Chosen for One of Nation's Largest Hospital Construction Projects

Nashville-based Gene Burton & Associates, the largest independent medical technology consulting firm in the country, has been selected to provide medical equipment planning services for the new Parkland Hospital, a $1.27 billion replacement hospital campus in Dallas.
 
The new hospital will replace the existing Parkland Memorial Hospital, a 54-year-old acute-care facility that handles more than 1 million visits annually. The new campus is among the largest health system construction projects in the country. It will include an 862-bed acute-care hospital, a 380,000 square-foot outpatient center, a 275,000 square-foot office center, parking, plant, and other support facilities. Design is underway and construction is scheduled to begin later this year; project completion is slated for 2014.
 
GBA will provide comprehensive equipment planning and procurement services through completion of the project. The firm's consultants are currently working with the hospital's design and construction team to provide medical equipment installation specifications and develop cost estimates.
 

New Technology Eases Heart Valve Replacement Surgery

Doctors with the Vanderbilt Pediatric Heart Institute have performed Tennessee's first procedures to replace heart valves without open-heart surgery. The technique, called transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement, uses new technology to position the heart valve into place using a catheter placed in the vein of the leg and then up into the heart where it is deployed.
 
The first patient to receive this new technique at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt was able to go home after an overnight stay. Thirteen-year-old Nick Feck had quit playing sports and his grades were slipping because he tired so easily. Feck was born with a heart defect that was repaired at birth, but a valve in the Bedford County middle-schooler's heart was failing. He and his family were bracing for open-heart surgery, but Nick's doctors told him Vanderbilt was prepared to try the less invasive technique.
 
Tom Doyle, MD, Dana Janssen, MD, and Robert Piana, MD, performed the first cases, including Feck's. Doyle said the technique is FDA-approved for a specific type of pediatric case: those in whom a connective tube, either made of artificial or natural materials, is placed between the right heart and the artery to the lungs. In this type of repair, the valve that keeps blood from back flowing from the lungs into the heart, often wears out.
 
"The replacement valve is created from a valve found in the neck vein of a cow," Doyle explained. "The section of vein with the valve is hand sewn onto a large metal stent that can be expanded on a balloon. The stent/valve combination is folded into a catheter about as wide as a pen. Under X-ray guidance, we can move the catheter into the conduit, expand the stent in the vessel, and in so doing, deploy the valve in the heart."
 
During the procedure on June 23, just one incision was made in Feck's leg where the catheter entered. He went home the next day. A week later he was given the go-ahead to attend a long-awaited summer camp program.
 
Due to the size of the delivery system, Vanderbilt is currently reserving the procedure for patients at least age 7. Since the device is so new, it is not known how long the valves will last, although data from Europe show it does well up to five years out.
 

Let's Give Them Something to Talk About!

Awards, Honors, Recognitions
Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Emergency Department has been rated as one of the top emergency departments in the country by HealthGrades, receiving the HealthGrades Emergency Medicine Excellence Award. Vanderbilt, along with Yale University Hospital and Cleveland Clinic Hospital were the only US News and World Report Top 20 Hospitals that were selected for the Excellence Award. Vanderbilt was one of only three hospitals in Tennessee to rank, and one of only 255 out of more than 4,500 emergency departments across the country to receive the award. The best performing hospitals, like Vanderbilt, have combined rates of mortality low enough to place them in the top 5 percent of hospitals in the nation for emergency medicine.
 
Jennifer Pietenpol, PhD, director of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center and Carlos Arteaga, MD, professor of Medicine and Cancer Biology and leader of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Breast Cancer Program, have been selected to serve on a new scientific panel to guide the research program of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®. The panel of 60 experts from a wide range of disciplines and seven countries will serve as inaugural members of Komen for the Cure's new Scientific Advisory Council (SAC). SAC members will provide scientific peer review for the breast cancer grants and programs that Komen funds and will provide Komen leadership with guidance on breast cancer education and public policy. Members will serve renewable two-year terms.
 
Recently, Brentwood-based Advocat Inc. received national quality awards for five of its long-term care facilities from the American Healthcare Association. The AHCA awards are based on the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award criteria and have three levels of awards for nursing homes. To be eligible to receive these national awards a facility must demonstrate at least a three year history of excellence in quality care, staff and residents' satisfaction, and regulatory compliance.
 
Centerstone Research Institute has been recognized as a 2010 Best Practices Award Winner by The Data Warehousing Institute. Honored for its innovative data warehouse, CRI is the first behavioral health organization ever to be recognized by TDWI.
 
Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) recently announced it has been selected as one of Computerworld's top workplaces for information technology professionals for the second year in a row. HCA is ranked No. 42 on the publication's top 100 list.
 
The National Patient Safety Foundation has awarded the 2010 NPSF Chairman's Medal to Jonathan B. Perlin, MD, president, Clinical Services and CMO at Hospital Corporation of America. The NPSF Chairman's Medal is awarded to individuals who have demonstrated an ability to inspire and lead others while delivering meaningful and measurable patient safety improvement. Perlin's leadership in working to eradicate healthcare-associated infections through HCA's "MRSA ABCs" and HCA's flushot policy were noted.
 

Recent Certifications, Accreditations & Commendations:

Following an extensive, unannounced, onsite evaluation, Baptist Hospital has become the first healthcare facility in Tennessee to earn the Gold Seal of Approval from The Joint Commission for total hip and knee replacement. Certified hospitals comply with consensus-based national standards, effectively use evidenced-based clinical guidelines to manage care and have an organized approach in measuring their performance and making improvements.
 
Middle Tennessee Medical Center announced it has received Chest Pain Center Accreditation from the Society of Chest Pain Centers, an international organization dedicated to eliminating heart disease as the number one cause of death worldwide.
 
Maury Regional Medical Center has achieved heart failure accreditation from the Society of Chest Pain Centers making it one of only two medical centers in Middle Tennessee with this distinction and one of only 17 in the nation.
 
Baptist Hospital has earned its recertification for Advanced Inpatient Diabetes Care from The Joint Commission and remains the only hospital in Tennessee to earn this Gold Seal of Approval. Baptist Hospital first voluntary sought out this special certification in 2008 and was the first in Tennessee and fourth hospital in the nation to obtain the designation.
 

Centerstone Launches Career Resource Center

Earlier this summer, the Centerstone Career Resource Center, which will offer healthcare education opportunities, job training, employment placement assistance, and support services to at least 600 people in five Middle Tennessee counties, was launched. The center was made possible through a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor that was awarded as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and will serve Bedford, Coffee, Lawrence, Marshall and Maury counties. 
 
Offices for the Centerstone Career Resource Center opened in Columbia and Tullahoma on July 1. Approximately 420 people will receive funding to complete and receive a certificate or degree, and a minimum of 290 will be placed into employment following their training. Multiple support services will be offered through Centerstone's Career Resource Center, including child care assistance and interview preparation training. 
 

New Surgery Center Approved for Lebanon Opening in 2011

The recently approved Surgery Center of Lebanon is slated to open in late 2011. With three operating rooms and one procedure room, the facility will perform most types of outpatient surgery, including orthopedics, ENT, gynecology, plastic surgery, general surgery, podiatry, and oral surgery. Located in the Hartman Professional Building, a new multi-story facility at the corner of South Hartman Drive and I-40 being developed by The Conseco Group, the surgery center is owned by Lebanon Healthcare Partners. Brentwood-based Specialty Surgery Centers of America, Inc. will be the managing partner.