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Nation/World nvestor-owned debated I . M U T r n « . i M i ^ i i t n H I , H u n ^ k»!SESI)A1 , DKCKMBF.H 1 9 1 9 8 4 ; jfcy D'Vera Cohn - United Press International WASHINGTON -- What's wrong fcith making a profit from open heart surgery or delivering babies? So argue executives of the na­ tion's fast-growing profit-making hospital industry, who advertise quality care and improved management. Their business practices are changing the face of medicine. Critics disagree, contending what1 they call the "medical- industrial complex" inflates costs and chips away at medicine's . traditional values. They say profit * has no place in health care. * I The debate over the propriety of ^ i n v e s t o r - o w n e d h o s p i t a l s , previously confined to the pages of Kademic journals, burst into newspaper headlines Nov. 25 with William Schroeder's artifical h e a r t o p e r a t i o n a t H u m a n a Hospital Audubon in Louisville Ky. The hospital is part of Humana Inc., the $2.6 billion 91-hospital chain that nabbed surgeon William DeVries from the Univer­ sity of Utah with the promise of financing up to 100 such opera­ tions. "There is no way Humana can make a profit from it," board chairman David Jones said of the conglomerate's multimillion- dollar commitment to the artifical heart. "But because our business is health, it's a wise investment." David Talbot, an analyst with Drexel, Burnham, Lamberf in­ vestment bankers in New York, called the artificial heart a publicity bonanza for a company "intent on being a brand name in * hospital care just like Coca-Cola is in consumer products." B u t t h e . . p r e s i d e n t o f t h e American Medical Association criticized the "circus" surroun­ ding the artificial heart. And the AMA's judicial council warned such surgery "should not be used for the commercial ends of par­ ticipating physicians or the in­ stitutions involved." ' One in five of the nation's 6,000 general hospitals is now investor- owned, up from 13 percent in 1977. In Florida, the figure is 40 per­ cent. In related industries, it is higher -- 80 percent of nursing homes are run for profit, as are 50 percent of psychiatric beds. More than 300 nonprofit hospitals are now run by profit-making com­ panies. I n d e p e n d e n t f o r - p r o f i t hospitals, often run by doctors, have been around for years. It is the corporate chains, which ac­ count for three-quarters of investor-owned hospitals, that are grffwing fast. A recent report by Arthur Andersen & Co., and the American C o l l e g e o f H o s p i t a l A d - ministrators predicted nearly one 11 Piece Combination WRENCH SET TARP STRAP Assorted Christmas Tree ORNAMENTS Rent-a-Fan Club makes stars out of ordinary people Rv FroN IT CanA 1 1 « • in four U.S.* hospitals will be investor-owned by 1995, while non­ profit hospitals hold steady and government hospitals decline. Hospital stocks, Wall Street's sweetheart a few years ago, are now selling low because of pressures to contain hospital costs. But Drexel, Burnham, Lambert is forecasting 20 percent- a-year revenue growth through 1990. "This industry bounces back and forth between fear and greed," Talbot said. "Currently, the fear is running very high... We think the fear has been overdone." As the cost control squeeze from government programs and private employers makes it harder to turn a profit, the chains are attracting new patients with discounts and promotions. They use centralized buying and book­ keeping to save money. Many non­ profits are imitating them. f Humana provides candlelight champagne dinners for couples after their babies are born. Republic Health Corp. of Dallas waives the Medicare hospital deductible for cataract surgery at some facilities. After concentrating on buying or building local hospitals, the chains are moving into full- service health care to grab a greater share of the market. They are opening shopping mall s u r g e r y c e n t e r s , h e a l t h maintenance organizations, home care companies, and nursing homes. Some, including Humana, are selling health insurance, offer­ ing discounts at their hospitals. "We're in the midst of a transi­ tion from big hospital companies to health care companies," said Michael Bromberg, executive director of the Federation of American Hospitals, the industry trade group. Now, to round out what they of­ fer and to increase their prestige, the chains are acquiring teaching hospitals, which need the cash to improve their aging plants. A few are moving into high-tech areas like the artificial heart. Humana is leasing the Universi­ ty of Louisville gz4derital and plans to build and run a teaching hospital for the Chicago Medical School. American Medical Inter­ national, with $2.4 billion in revenues and 115 U.S. hospitals, bought a Creighton University teaching hospital in Omaha. Hospital Corp. of America, with $4.2 billion in revenues and 200 U.S. hospitals, is acquiring Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, now a nonprofit research center. George Washington University Hospital, where President Reagan wai taken when he was shot, is t a l k i n g t o A M I . H a r v a r d ' s McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., after rejecting an outright purchase, may affiliate with a cor­ poration. By FrankSanello UPI entertainment reporter LOS ANGELES -- Everybody wants to be a star, and for a minimum of $100, Cindy and Min- dy's Rent-a-Fan Club will make you feel like one. For the past three years, Lissa rCindy") Negrin and. Mindy Greenfield, aspiring writers and stand-up comics, have been show­ ing up at restaurants, the airport, birthday parties, even sickbeds, where they impersonate a 1950s' style fan club and scream and shriek at the usually unsuspecting "star." Their act is a variation on singing telegrams. To celebrate a birthday or othei special occa­ sion, a client will hire Cindy and Mindy to pretend that the client's loved one is a superstar pursued by crazed fans. They say their weirdest assign­ ment took place at Los Angeles airport, where a woman from Alabama was making her first visit to California. Her brother couldn't pick her up at the airport, so he sent Cindy and Mindy in­ stead. They charged the client aiffiOst $1,000 for the job. In return the visitor was met by a brass band, 10 extra "fans" -- struggling ac­ tors -- hired for the occasion, fake reporters and photographers, and a stretch limousine. By the time the woman emerged from the plane, other people at the airport were convinced she was a genuine VIP and began asking for her autograph, which she dazedly bestowed. The ersatz star was shocked at first and didn't say a word until she got into the limousine. As the car pulled away, she started wav­ ing "to the crowd as though she were Queen Elizabeth," recalls Greenfield. Real celebrities also use the fan club. Cher hired the club for her daughter Chastity's birthday par­ ly. Friends of composer Burt Bacharach and producer Jack Haley Jr., hired Rent-a-Fan, and Ed McMahon was "fanned" at Chasen's while Johnny Carson looked on with a guilty smile. Sometimes there's no audience for their performance, which makes it tough, not to mention strange, the women say. An agent at William Morris was alone without a secretary when his unexpected fan club showed up. "In the middle of our act, the phone kept ringing, and he'd say, 'Just one minute girls' and pick up the phone." An actor who was up for a TV comedy series hired the women to "fan" him poolside at a hotel in Beverly Hills while he was meeting with the producer of the show. Cindy and Mindy ended up jumping into the pool, along with the actor, who got into the spirit of the craziness. The producer stayed out of the water, but the comic got the part. Their job, which nets them $2,000 on a "good week," isn't always Bel Air mansions and tren­ dy restaurants. At a fashion convention, Mon­ santo hired them to "freak out over fabric for three days. SOFTWATER RENTAL 975,.,m.. •NO installation charge •NEW fully automatic softeners •TWO year option to buy with •FULL rental fee deducted •ONE phone call can answer rent any questions 312-259-3393 SS?T\ ARLINGTON SOFT WATER CO. 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