This year Nursing Assistants’ Week is observed June11 – 18. National Nursing Assistants’ Week is held each year to celebrate and honor the hard work of all Nursing Assistants, who are important providers in various healthcare settings. Nursing Assistants Week focuses on ways nursing assistants make a difference in the lives of the people in their care.

In celebration of this special week, VNA Hospice’s resale boutique, Hidden Treasures, is honoring nursing assistants by offering 20% off storewide for customers wearing their scrubs or nursing uniforms.

VNA Hospice operates the Hidden Treasures resale boutique located at 656 21st Street, Vero Beach, in the Miracle Mile Plaza. Proceeds from the store help VNA Hospice provide care for Indian River County patients with life-limiting illnesses and also support the day-to-day operating expenses of the VNA Hospice House. The store is open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. and on Saturday 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

For more information about making donations to VNA Hidden Treasures, or to schedule a free pick up for larger items, please contact the store manager at 772.563.0010.

VNA Hidden Treasures is gearing up for a busy August month. In addition to the daily manager’s specials, the store will be participating in the Miracle Mile Sidewalk sale, August 14th and 15th. Open normal business hours, customers will receive 20% off storewide, along with special sidewalk deals. Free blood pressure screenings will also be available on Friday, August 14th from 11:00 a.m. — 1:00 p.m.

August 17th is National Thrift Shop Day and August 21st is Senior Citizens Day. Hidden Treasures is celebrating both of these exceptional days by offering 20% off your entire purchase.

Stop by today and check out the store’s August window display. This month’s window theme is “Chic on a Budget.” Looking for a way to keep up with the latest stylish fashion but on a tight budget? The Hidden Treasures resale boutique has an entire section dedicated to high-fashion, brand name clothing at incredibly low prices. Brands include: Nine West, Ann Taylor, Talbot’s, Chico’s, Liz Claiborne, and Coach. The store has a wide variety of business apparel, as well as shoes and accessories to complete your outfit.

VNA Hospice operates the Hidden Treasures resale boutique located at 656 21st Street, Vero Beach, in the Miracle Mile Plaza. Proceeds from the store help VNA Hospice provide care for Indian River County patients with life-limiting illnesses and also support the day-to-day operating expenses of the VNA Hospice House. The store is open Monday through Friday

9:00 a.m. — 4:30 p.m. and on Saturday 9:00 a.m. — 4:00 p.m.

For more information about making donations to VNA Hidden Treasures, please contact the store manager at 772.563.0010.

The health system expands relationship with addition of claims management and charge capture services

MedAssets, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDAS) today announced that St.Vincent Health of Indianapolis, Ind., has expanded its use of MedAssets’ Revenue Cycle Management products and services to further improve its financial performance through better contract management, charge capture and recovery and claims management processes.

St.Vincent Health has made major improvements to optimize its revenue cycle performance over the last year, and continues to further automate its processes, improve efficiency and increase its net revenue by adding a multitude of MedAssets solutions that can be quickly implemented and deliver an immediate return on investment. Solutions being implemented include: Contract Manager, XClaim suite, CDM MasterTM, Charge Capture Audit (CCA®) and PriceMaster.

Utilizing MedAssets’ solutions, St.Vincent Health can:

• Reduce rework by managing its claims process, improving the accuracy and consistency of submitted claims and first pass rates in order to increase overall cash flow;
• Eliminate lost or duplicate charges and billing errors with charge master management;
• Improve the accuracy of its billing and identify lost revenue and charge issues before claims are submitted;
• Ensure payment accuracy from payors and identify underpayments to realize net revenue; and
• Establish defensible pricing that supports transparency and hospital competitiveness.

Based in Indianapolis, St.Vincent Health operates 18 health facilities in 45 counties of central Indiana and cared for more than 2.1 million patients in fiscal year 2009.

“It’s more important than ever that hospitals and health systems focus on making their revenue cycle performance more effective, including ensuring that proper payments are received in a timely manner from patients and third party payors for the services we provide,” said Gregory Snow, vice president, Revenue Cycle Operations at St.Vincent Health. “MedAssets tools make it possible for us to quickly increase our efficiency and improve our financial performance, positioning us to better serve the patients who depend on us for their healthcare needs.”

“In today’s economy, providers like St.Vincent Health are looking for solutions that are quick to implement and quick to reach the targeted ROI,” said DT Nguyen, president, Revenue Cycle Management, MedAssets, Inc. “Our solutions are designed to help healthcare providers like St.Vincent Health identify ways to improve their financial performance so that they can continue their mission of providing high-quality healthcare to the communities they serve. We’re happy that our relationship with them continues to expand.”

About MedAssets

MedAssets (NASDAQ: MDAS) partners with healthcare providers to improve their financial strength by implementing spend management and revenue cycle solutions that help control cost, improve margins and cash flow, increase regulatory compliance, and optimize operational efficiency. MedAssets serves more than 125 health systems, 3,300 hospitals and 30,000 non-acute care healthcare providers. For more information, visit www.medassets.com.

About St.Vincent Health

St.Vincent Health is a nonprofit, spiritually-centered health system, sponsored by Ascension Health of St. Louis, MO., the nation’s largest Catholic health system. St.Vincent Health is one of Indiana’s largest employers with 18 health ministries serving 45 counties in Central Indiana. The health ministry includes St.Vincent Indianapolis Hospital; Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at St.Vincent; St.Vincent Heart Center of Indiana; St.Vincent Medical Center Northeast; St. Joseph Hospital in Kokomo; Saint John’s Health System in Anderson; St.Vincent Carmel Hospital; St.Vincent Women’s Hospital; St.Vincent Clay Hospital in Brazil; St.Vincent Frankfort Hospital; St.Vincent Jennings Hospital in North Vernon; St.Vincent Mercy Hospital in Elwood; St.Vincent New Hope; St.Vincent Randolph Hospital in Winchester; St.Vincent Stress Center; St.Vincent Williamsport Hospital; and St.Vincent Seton Specialty Hospital.

MDAS/B
Contacts

MedAssets, Inc.
Media Contact:
Regina Haas, 678-624-7420
pr@medassets.com
or
Investor Contact:
Robert Borchert, 678-248-8194
rborchert@medassets.com

Developing and developed countries across the Pacific Rim are adopting biotech solutions to cut greenhouse gas emissions, efficiently utilize resources, and jumpstart economic growth. The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) today announced the sessions and speaker presentations to be delivered at the 2009 Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy, to be held Nov. 8-11, 2009 in Honolulu.

Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO’s Industrial and Environmental Section, said, “The growth and development of clean-tech and green product technologies offer opportunities for sustainable industrial production, new green jobs, and future economic growth. Current talks about the international climate change treaty have focused on possible tradeoffs between economic development and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Industrial biotechnology is a green technology and a proven engine of innovation that can help all countries develop renewable energy and products, transform industrial processes to lessen environmental impacts, and promote economic growth.”

Presentations scheduled for the Pacific Rim Summit include:

International Developments in Algae Commercialization
Monday, Nov. 9, 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

• Valerie Reed, US Department of Energy
• Patrick McGinn, Institute of Marine Biosciences NRC Canada
• Ravi Shrivastava, DRDO

East Meets West: A Comparison of China, Brazil, and U.S. Biofuels Policy
Monday, Nov. 9, 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

• Christina Connelly, Minnesota Department of Agriculture
• Joel Velasco, UNICA Sugar Cane Industry Association
• Dehua Liu, Tsinghua University

Global Perspectives on the Bioeconomy
Monday, Nov. 9, 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

• Michael Ott, Iowa Biotechnology Association
• Maurice Kaya, Hawaii Department of Business & Economic Development
• Chris Boalch, New Zealand Trade & Enterprise

The full schedule of speakers and sessions is available at http://www.bio.org/pacrim/speakers/breakout/.

BIO also today announced that the 2010 World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing will be held in Washington, D.C., at the Gaylord National Harbor, June 27-30, 2010.

About BIO

BIO represents more than 1,200 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of innovative healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products. BIO also produces the BIO International Convention, the world’s largest gathering of the biotechnology industry, along with industry-leading investor and partnering meetings held around the world.

The Advanced Biofuels & Climate Change Information Center presents the latest commentary and data on the environmental and other impacts of biofuel production. Drop in and add your comments, at http://biofuelsandclimate.wordpress.com/.

Upcoming BIO Events

BIO Investor Forum
October 28-29, 2009
San Francisco, CA

Advanced Business Development Course
October 30, 2009
Vienna, Austria

BIO Europe International Partnering Conference
November 2-4, 2009
Vienna, Austria

Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy
November 8-11, 2009
Honolulu, HI

Contacts

BIO
Paul Winters
202-962-9237
pwinters@bio.org

www.bio.org

U.S. discount, grocery and restaurant chains are hiring a larger percentage of job applicants than seven months ago, signaling confidence the economy may be improving, software maker Kronos Inc. said.

Kronos analyzed the 8.9 million job applications received by 68 retailers in the first seven months of the year. In July, 2.99 of every 100 applications resulted in a hire, compared with 2.75 in January, a three-year low, the Chelmsford, Massachusetts-based company said today in a statement.

“We are seeing a turnaround that reflects an increase in confidence by individual managers,” Robert Yerex, Kronos’s chief economist, said Sept. 4 by telephone from Beaverton, Oregon. “It may take quite a bit longer to come back than it did to drop off.” This is the first time Kronos has publicly issued a monthly retail labor index.

The pace of hiring of cashiers, merchandise stockers and other frontline workers in July was less than half that of October 2006, Kronos said. U.S. unemployment rose to a 26-year high of 9.7 percent in August, according to the Labor Department. Retailers fired 10,000 people last month while all U.S. employers trimmed payrolls by 216,000 after slashing 276,000 jobs in July.

Closely held Kronos makes software that businesses use to process hiring, payroll and scheduling and manage employees. It had 2008 revenue of about $715 million, said Steve Earl, 43, the director of product marketing.

Discount chains, department stores, grocery stores, restaurants and home-improvement stores use the company’s products, said Earl, who is also based in Beaverton. He wouldn’t identify individual customers.

Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. left his suite at Manhattan’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel last Sept. 15 after a sleepless night, feeling he’d done all he could to minimize the damage from that morning’s collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., aides said.

At meetings concluded the previous evening at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Paulson and executives of the world’s largest financial institutions worked to head off two threats they anticipated in the wake of the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history. The bankers spent hours trying to unwind Lehman-related credit-default swaps, bets made on whether companies will repay their debts. And with the help of a rule change by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, they were confident bank-to- bank loans would keep flowing.

“The general feeling was things were working,” said Phillip L. Swagel, Paulson’s assistant secretary for economic policy, who remained in Washington that weekend.

Nobody accounted for Bruce R. Bent. The 72-year-old graduate of St. John’s University in Queens, New York, created the first money market fund in 1971, the Reserve Primary Fund. He touted it as an investment so safe it would lull clients to sleep — so safe that, even with $785 million in loans to tottering Lehman, Bent and his wife had jetted to Rome that Sunday evening to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

The Newport Group has been selected by Commonwealth Financial Network® to deliver industry-leading retirement plan strategies. Commonwealth, a national independent broker/dealer, has launched its new advisory retirement platform, Retirement Consulting Services, and has selected Newport as a recordkeeper of choice.

With the support of the firm’s Retirement Consulting Services group, Commonwealth’s financial advisors can offer their corporate clients highly competitive retirement plans that provide full transparency and disclosure—all within the context of a fee-based investment advisory relationship. “It’s an open-architecture solution that can play a key role in a financial professional’s strategy for building their practice in full compliance with regulation,” said Amy Glynn, Director of Retirement Consulting Services at Commonwealth.

“Commonwealth’s fee-for-service model and focused Retirement Consulting Services group aligns well with Newport’s fully transparent fee model and independent and unbiased investment capabilities,” added Newport’s Chief Marketing Officer Tom Pittman.

In addition to servicing existing Commonwealth advisors, the firm believes this platform will increase Commonwealth’s overall ability to attract new advisors. “Adding Newport to our open-architecture, full-disclosure offering enables advisors to compete in a challenging marketplace with fresh and exciting value propositions. Newport’s high-end service and creative plan design expertise add a new level of depth to our platform,” Glynn noted.

“Ultimately, this type of relationship comes down to culture. Newport as an institution, and its employees, have the same values as we do at Commonwealth, with a focus on high-end, indispensable service provided to advisors.”

About The Newport Group

Founded in 1984, The Newport Group is a leading retirement services and asset management firm—specializing in the creative design, funding, and administration of qualified and non-qualified retirement plans, as well as co-fiduciary investment advisory services. Through its strategic alliances and joint ventures with other firms in the financial services arena, Newport is uniquely positioned to satisfy the distinct financial needs of employers and employees, and has done so for hundreds of the country’s largest and best-known companies.

Newport is headquartered in Heathrow (Orlando) FL, with service centers in Charlotte NC, Greensboro NC, La Crosse WI, Richmond VA, and St. Petersburg FL. Newport also has offices in Atlanta, Boston, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New York NY, Orange County CA, and San Francisco. For more information, visit www.newportgroup.com.

About Commonwealth Financial Network

Founded in 1979, Commonwealth Financial Network, Member FINRA/SIPC, a registered investment adviser, is the nation’s second-largest, privately owned independent broker/dealer, with offices in Waltham, Massachusetts, and San Diego, California. The firm supports more than 1,200 independent registered representatives nationwide and makes available a comprehensive array of financial products and services.

Contacts

The Newport Group
Geraldine O’Brien, VP, Communications, 407-333-2905
gobrien@newportgroup.com
www.newportgroup.com

In January 2008, when Andrew Cockburn and his wife Leslie started making a documentary about the subprime mortgage crisis, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was above 13,000, the U.S. unemployment rate was under 5 percent and Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns were still big names on Wall Street.

During the next 11 months, the Dow plunged 43 percent, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns collapsed and the U.S. economy fell into its worst slump since the Great Depression.

“It was a big story when we started, but it got even bigger as we were making the film,” Andrew Cockburn said. “We certainly didn’t know that all these huge banks would fail and that the market would crash.”

The Cockburns examine the roots and ramifications of the subprime debacle in “American Casino,” which shows how the resulting financial crisis has affected Main Street as well as Wall Street. The film is playing in New York and will open in other U.S. cities throughout September and October.

Andrew Cockburn, 62, whose father Claud covered the 1929 stock-market crash for the Times of London, has made numerous documentaries with his wife. They also wrote and produced “The Peacemaker,” a 1997 Hollywood thriller starring George Clooney and Nicole Kidman.

Cockburn, who lives in Washington, spoke to me on the phone last week while visiting New York to promote the film.