Rex Healthcare executives are enlisting the help of employees, physicians and patients as they try to fend off WakeMed's unsolicited offer to buy their hospital for $750 million.

In an email to doctors, Rex CEO David Strong urged them to tell patients who ask that they can support Rex by writing letters to the editor, and posting their views on personal blogs and social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter.

Also, "patients can email, write or call their legislators ... and explain that a takeover of Rex Healthcare would have significant negative consequences for our county and state," Strong wrote. The email includes contact information for the Wake County delegation of the General Assembly.

"We believe any acquisition of Rex Healthcare would require legislation or some similar type of involvement from the state," Strong wrote.

WakeMed announced last week it is offering $750 million to buy Raleigh rival Rex from the UNC Health Care System. Rex and UNC officials have said that Rex isn't for sale, but the UNC Health board is meeting this afternoon to discuss the offer.

WakeMed leaders delivered their official $750 million offer to buy rival hospital Rex Healthcare to UNC president Thomas Ross this morning.

WakeMed contends that buying its cross-town rival Rex from the UNC Health Care System would help improve patient care in Wake County and beyond, reduce costs and provide a much-needed cash infusion for the parent UNC system and the state. WakeMed is also trying to defend its Wake County turf from what it's said are "predatory" expansion tactics by UNC Health.

But the hostile takeover bid faces tough hurdles. UNC Health and Rex officials say they're not interested in a sale. Such a deal could raise antitrust concerns.

And while WakeMed has been seeking support for a deal from Gov. Bev Perdue and state lawmakers, several legislators said this morning that they don't think selling Rex will solve the state's financial problems.

Senate leader Phil Berger said he has not looked at all the implications, but "it's something we need to be very careful about."

"There are a number of folks in the Senate who think it's a bad idea," said the Eden Republican. "That proposal would have a ways to go in the Senate."

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A joint venture between the Duke University Health System and a Tennessee hospital chain has bought nine heart labs across North Carolina from Charlotte-based MedCath.

It's the second deal for DLP Healthcare since the joint venture announced in February an agreement to run Maria Parham Medical Center in Henderson, a 102-bed hospital about 45 miles north of Raleigh.

DLP is a partnership between the Duke health system and LifePoint Hospitals, a publicly traded company based in Brentwood, Tenn., that operates 52 hospitals in 17 states.

Duke and LifePoint are seeking other deals with community hospitals and other providers. Other health systems, including the UNC Health Care System, also are looking to expand as federal health reform and other factors drive consolidation in the medical industry.

WakeMed, Wake County's largest hospital, will stop giving out formula samples and pacifiers, in an effort to win a "Baby Friendly" designation.

Critics have long complained that by giving out free formula samples and diaper bags provided by formula companies, hospitals discourage new mothers from breastfeeding.

By seeking to be the first Triangle hospital given the Baby Friendly designation from the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund, WakeMed is hoping to stand out from local rivals in the baby business, including Rex Healthcare.

WakeMed's new, no-formula policy at its Raleigh and Cary hospitals takes effect Sunday, which is Mother's Day.

Urgent Cares of America, a Clayton company that operates 14 health clinics in North Carolina and Arizona, has changed its name to FastMed Urgent Care.

The company announced the change in a release last week.

Urgent Cares of America Holdings was founded in 2001, and initially operated six urgent care clinics in the Triangle. It later added three more clinics in western North Carolina.

In November, UCA was acquired by The Comvest Group, a private healthcare investment firm.

In late February, the company acquired Tri-City Express Care, an Arizona company with five urgent care clinics in the Phoenix area.

FastMed hopes to build a national chain of urgent care clinics.
 

A Florida-based company that provides a variety of support services for the healthcare industry is bringing 1,200 new jobs to Charlotte and Concord.

Connextions Inc. announced this morning that it will add a new location in Charlotte, providing 800 jobs, and expand its Concord facility, with 400 more jobs there.

Gov. Bev Perdue is attending a news conference this morning at the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce.

Recruiting for some of the new positions will begin this week.

For more information read the Charlotte Observer's story here.

Cancer Centers of North Carolina continues to bulk up its local operations with the acquisition of Wake Radiology Oncology Services, an outpatient therapy center in Cary.

That facility's cancer physicians, Andrew Kennedy and Scott Sailer, will continue working from the same location for Cancer Centers of North Carolina. The center opened in 1998 near the WakeMed Cary Hospital campus.

Terms of the deal weren't disclosed. The deal is expected to close May 2, said Tom Grates, US Oncology's executive director for North Carolina.

By adding more facilities and services, Cancer Centers of North Carolina is becoming a bigger competitive threat to hospital-based cancer care provided by the Duke University Health System and UNC Health Care System.

Three hospital systems will submit proposals with state regulators today, seeking permission to expand in Raleigh, Cary and Holly Springs.

WakeMed, Rex Healthcare and Novant Health will file so-called Certificate of Need applications, vying to win approval to add 101 new hospital beds that regulators have determined Wake County will need to keep up with increasing demand.

For patients, the expansions will provide additional medical services. For the hospitals, new inpatient beds provide an important source of future revenue. For this region, the projects will provide an economic boost, creating construction work during a slow time, and then long-term, relatively stable health-care jobs.

The bids are due this afternoon. State analysts will review the proposals during the next five months based on factors such as cost, quality of care and access to care.

The initial decision, expected in September, will likely be appealed by the losing hospitals and the legal brawl could drag on for years. 

Nearly two years after winning regulatory approval for Wake County's fifth hospital, WakeMed is moving ahead with plans to expand its medical campus in North Raleigh.

The Raleigh-based health system postponed construction of WakeMed North Hospital when the economy cooled and officials turned their attention to other expansion projects, including a $99 million patient tower and children's hospital at its main campus.

WakeMed will announce today that it expects to break ground on the 61-bed hospital focused on women's services this fall and open it in late 2013.

"We shuffled several projects last year, but the economy is coming around, we think," said WakeMed CEO Bill Atkinson. "The timing is very good" because the weaker construction market has reduced costs for materials and labor.