Orlando — Thad Seymour, Lake Nona's Vice President and General Manager of Health and Life Sciences, was recently selected to serve on the Board of Directors for BioFlorida. As a board member, Seymour will help guide the statewide trade association in promoting outreach, business development, education and workforce development for businesses in the health, agriculture and energy, biotech, pharmaceutical and medical technology fields.

 

Seymour, who manages planning and business development projects related to Lake Nona's 600-acre "medical city," was selected along with 11 other board members in a unanimous vote, which took place on March 30, 2009 at BioFlorida's Annual Member meeting. Seymour is now one of 39 board members, most of whom come from research and development companies and institutions throughout Florida.

 

DeLand — Florida Hospital DeLand opens its new Progressive Care Unit (PCU).

 

The PCU provides 24 hour continuous, comprehensive nursing care to an acute medical-surgical patient population. The patient population on PCU includes those who are stable but have complex needs and require more comprehensive care with increased level of nursing care.  

 

The new unit will include 12 beds, all in private rooms.

 

Endovascular surgeons at Orlando Regional Medical Center (ORMC) are now using a new high-tech operating room (OR) that integrates digital imaging diagnostics, radiological, catheterization and surgical capabilities in one suite instead of treatment in various hospital areas. For patients the new suite means they spend less time in surgery and the hospital, and recover with less pain, returning more quickly to an improved healthier lifestyle.

 

Hospital in Greater Orlando with an Endovascular Surgery Suite in the OR.

Endovascular surgery is a form of minimally invasive surgery that allows access to various areas of the body through a small puncture via major blood vessels, instead of large incisions. Typically the chosen vessel is the femoral artery or a vein near the groin. Common surgeries and procedures include carotid artery stenting, abdominal aortic aneurysm repairs and treatment for lower extremity peripheral vascular disease like blood clots in the legs.

 

The new endovascular suite combines the best of both worlds: the cutting-edge imaging and image processing found in independent radiological and angiography suites and the more sterile environment of an OR which is needed in more complex endovascular procedures.
 

Board Certified Internal Medicine Physician Ricardo Perez, MD, Joins Southwest Internal Medicine Specialists.

 

A board certified internal medicine physician, Dr. Ricardo Perez is a graduate of Central del Caribe School of Medicine in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. He completed his internal medicine internship and residency at the University of Virginia School Of Medicine where he was Chief Resident in his final year. After residency, Dr. Perez and his family moved to Punta Gorda, Florida, where he practiced for 5 years. In 2003 he established the first hospitalist group in Charlotte County. Dr. Perez is a member or the American College of Physicians, the American Medical Association, the Florida Medical Association and the Society of Hospital Medicine.

 

McMurry announced recently that it acquired Cyrus, an Orlando, Fla.-based firm specializing in custom and managed interactive solutions for the healthcare industry, on April 30. The arrangement marks McMurry's 11th acquisition since 1998, and its second acquisition in the interactive space in the past two years.

 

FTC Grants Three-Month Delay for Enforcement of 'Red Flags' Rule

The Federal Trade Commission will delay enforcement of the new "Red Flags Rule" until August 1, 2009, to give creditors and financial institutions more time to develop and implement written identity theft prevention programs. For entities that have a low risk of identity theft, such as businesses that know their customers personally, the Commission will soon release a template to help them comply with the law.

 

Aimed at thwarting medical identity fraud, the new Red Flag Rule under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 required mandatory compliance by healthcare providers—which the FTC labels as creditors—to have an Identity Theft Prevention Program in place by May 1.

 

"Given the ongoing debate about whether Congress wrote this provision too broadly, delaying enforcement of the Red Flags Rule will allow industries and associations to share guidance with their members, provide low-risk entities an opportunity to use the template in developing their programs, and give Congress time to consider the issue further," FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said.

 

Neurological Services of Orlando is happy to announce that Dr. Navin Verma has joined the practice.

 

Dr. Verma is a Board Certified Neurologist and is fellowship trained in Sleep Medicine. He is also an Assistant Professor of Neurology at the University of Central Florida, College of Medicine.

 

Prior to joining Neurological services of Orlando, he worked in New Jersey as an Attending Neurologist and Sleep Medicine Specialist. He completed his residency at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) and was selected as Chief Resident in his final year. He then completed a fellowship in Sleep Medicine at the Sleep Disorders Institute in New York City.

 

TITUSVILLE — Parrish Medical Center (PMC) has been designated a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiology (ACR). The award is presented only to breast imaging centers that have demonstrated excellence by earning ACR accreditation in all the college's voluntary, breast-imaging accreditation program and components, in addition to the mandatory Mammography Accreditation Program.

 

Sanford — Central Florida Regional Hospital's Cardiac Cath Lab now features the latest in imaging technology. The new equipment allows for versatility in cardiac and vascular imaging, offering precise image quality and improving success rates in treating heart attacks, particularly STEMI (Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction) – a type of heart attack that affects enough heart tissue to be diagnosed by an EKG.

 

St. Cloud Regional Medical Center has opened its new 6,000-square-foot surgery expansion. The expansion features two additional state-of-the-art "smart" operating suites, a special procedures room, expanded Post-Anesthesia Care Unit, and space for growth of the cardiac diagnostics suites. The addition of smart operating rooms bring high definition imaging, unique radiology integration and increased efficiency.

 

The latest technology has been incorporated into the surgical suites with new equipment from Olympus. The two rooms are fully integrated — meaning that on one panel, physicians and OR staff can access, display and transmit images and patient information electronically.

 

The new operating suites are equipped with specialized airflow technology to continually circulate pure air into the surgical room, lessening the opportunity for infection.

 

The Gowani Medical Associates Sleep Disorders Center recently received the program accreditation from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. (AASM).

 

To receive a five-year accreditation, a sleep center must meet or exceed all standards for professional health care as designated by the AASM. The accreditation process involves detailed inspection of a center's facility and staff, including an evaluation of testing procedures, patient contacts and physician training.