In Brief: Theranos Dumps President; Sutter, Stanford Operate Nation\'s Most Profitable Hospitals
Theranos Dumps President, Expands Board
Theranos, the troubled Northern California laboratory startup, has jettisoned its longtime president and has expanded its board of directors.
Sunny Balwani, who has served as Theranos' president and chief operating officer since 2009, announced his retirement from the company earlier this week.
“I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to contribute to Theranos’ mission to make healthcare accessible through its technology and products,” Balwani said in a statement. “I will continue to be the company’s biggest advocate and look forward to seeing Theranos’ innovations reach the world.”
The departure of the 50-year-old Balwani comes as Theranos has come under criminal investigation and is in jeopardy of losing its Medicare certification for its laboratory in Newark (the company operates another lab in Arizona).
Things began unraveling for Theranos last year, as the Wall Street Journal reported that the company was using legacy laboratory equipment to perform most of its tests instead of the groundbreaking technology it claimed could be used to perform just about any lab test with a few drops of blood. To date, the Food and Drug Administration has cleared a single test to be performed on Theranos' Edison testing platform.
Meanwhile, Theranos announced the addition of three new directors to its board. They included William H. Foege, M.D., an epidemiologist by training and former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Richard M. Kovacevich, former chief executive officer of Wells Fargo & Co., and Fabrizio Bonanni, M.D., a former senior executive with drug giant Amgen.
Theranos played up Bonanni's appointment, noting his many years of experience in compliance and quality control with Amgen, from which he retired three years ago.
“We are proud to have the opportunity to work with Dr. Bonanni as we build and scale best-in-class operations throughout our company,” said Theranos Chief Executive Officer Elizabeth Holmes. “Dr. Bonanni’s leadership and guidance in operations, quality and compliance is exceptional, and we are fortunate to add his experience to our team both on the board and to work with us internally.”
Sutter, Stanford Operate Nation’s Most Profitable Hospitals
A study published last week in the journal Health Affairs has identified Sutter Health’s Sacramento Medical Center and Stanford Hospital and Clinics as two of the nation’s most profitable hospitals.
According to the study, the Sutter facility was the second most profitable hospital in the nation, netting $2,244 per adjusted patient discharge in fiscal 2013 and $271.9 million in total profit, while the Stanford facility was the third most profitable, with $1,339 per adjusted discharge and $224.7 million in total profit.
Sutter has vigorously disputed the findings in the study, which was conducted by researchers affiliated with Washington & Lee University and Johns Hopkins University. Sutter has said the methodology was flawed.
