Here are some of the top stories at MedCity News this week:
— The much-hyped best hospital rankings from U.S. News and World Report are out again, and they look a lot like they did last year. Topping the list once again is Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore — as it has for the last 20 years — followed by Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. The only movement in the top five happened with Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital, which jumped from No. 5 to No. 3, and Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, which did the reverse, falling from No. 3 to No. 5. Cleveland Clinic remained in the fourth spot.
— Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-St. Paul, Minnesota) has good reason to feel a fresh spring in his step. He helped pass long-overdue tax credits for angel investors, and research and development spending — a feat that earned him a prime spot (second from the left) behind Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty when the presumed Republican presidential candidate signed the bill amid applause at events hosted by LifeScience Alley and the Minnesota High Tech Association. But rather take a holiday, the chairman of the House Bioscience and Workforce Development Committee has already selected his next target: the University of Minnesota.
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— Medical device reprocessor SterilMed Inc. has been bought by two private equity firms for an undisclosed sum. The company’s new owners are Boston-based Great Hill Partners and Cleveland-based Primus Capital Funds, according to a statement from SterilMed. Maple Grove, Minnesota-based SterilMed reprocesses a vast array of single-use medical devices including guidewires, catheters, laser probes and chest retractors. The company says reprocessed devices typically cost about half the amount of new devices. SterilMed also repairs small healthcare equipment.
— It’s Greg Sanker’s job to sell Cleveland’s medical mart to the world. Or at least that part of the world that needs to buy into the concept for it to be a success — medical device makers, health information technology vendors, and less-sexy members of the healthcare ecosystem like hospital bed manufacturers. Now that the project (which has two competitors) appears to be picking up some momentum, Sanker’s role is among the most important in ensuring that the medical mart idea becomes a reality. Sanker, a Lakewood, Ohio, resident for the last 15 years, is the vice president of leasing for Chicago-based MMPI, the property developer for Cleveland’s $425 million, 520,000-square-foot medical mart project, which is on track for an October groundbreaking.
— Merck & Co. is no longer a drug company. Or at least that’s what one of its top executives told the Innovations in Diabetes Summit in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, Wednesday. Now before you start shorting Merck stock, the company, a longtime stalwart of Big Pharma, is still very much in the business of making pharmaceuticals. It’s just that today’s Merck prefers to call itself a “healthcare company,” said Dr. S. Sethu Reddy, Merck’s director of medical affairs for diabetes and obesity. The change is not merely cosmetic. For all of the innovations and new treatments on display at the summit, sponsored by LifeScience Alley, BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota and MedCity News, there is a growing realization that technology won’t cure diabetes in the United States.