NEWS IN BRIEF

Blan named new CEO for Sparks, Summit

Fort Smith-based Sparks Health System and Van Buren-based Summit Medical Center have a new chief executive officer. Gary Blan, a Fort Smith native, will take over the job of overseeing both operations Tuesday, according to a release.

The hospitals are operated by Florida-based Health Management Associates Inc. Through its subsidiaries, Health Management operates 70 hospitals with approximately 10,500 licensed beds throughout the U.S.

He replaces Melody Trimble, who was promoted to president of Health Management’s Southern and Western Group.

Trimble served as chief executive for the hospitals since 2009.

The Sparks Health System includes the 492-bed Sparks Regional Medical Center. Summit Medical Center is a 103-bed acutecare hospital. The hospitals serve 350,000 people in a 12-county area near Fort Smith, including parts of Oklahoma.

  • John MagsamDistance health care is topic of LR forum

A conference to promote distance health-care telecommunications technologies used in the Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi region will be held April 4 and 5 at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.

Experts will give presentations and lead discussions, and there will be networking opportunities, according to a news release. The South Central Telehealth Forum is organized by the University of Arkansas for Medical Science’s Center for Distance Health and the South Central Telehealth Resource Center, which serves the three-state area.

Sessions will be presented on clinical and technical topics and program development, and continuing education credits will be offered.

Registration for the conference can be done at sctf.learntelehealth.org/ registration/. The cost is $160 per person. More information is available at (855) 644-3450 or email [email protected].

  • John MagsamState index rises 0.68, closes at all-time high

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, rose 0.68, closing at an all-time high of 271.44 Thursday.

“U.S. stocks continued their climb as the Dow closed up for a 10thstraight session after an improvement in jobless claims,” said John Blackwell, senior vice president and managing director of equity trading at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock. “The Arkansas Index moved higher as 11 stocks advanced, four declined and one remained unchanged.”

The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.

Business, Pages 25 on 03/15/2013

Upcoming Events