Health Care

Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson has joined the board of directors of Socrates Health Solutions Inc. In addition to serving four terms as governor, Thompson was a U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services under former President George W. Bush.

BizTimes Media is accepting nominations for its Health Care Heroes Awards, which honor individuals and organizations that are making a significant impact on the quality of health care in our area. The deadline is Friday.

Although no one has contracted the Ebola virus in Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services announced it has plans in place to respond to the virus in the event a case of it appears in the state.

BizTimes Media is accepting nominations for its Health Care Heroes Awards, which honor individuals and organizations that are making a significant impact on the quality of health care in our area.

Health care information technology firm ConsortiEX Inc. is opening an office in Milwaukee with the help of a $250,000 loan from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.

Milwaukee-based national nursing home company Extendicare Health Services Inc. will pay out $10 million in a settlement to resolve allegations that it provided unnecessary services to drive up Medicare billings.

John Flannery has been named president and chief executive officer of GE Healthcare, effective immediately. Flannery replaces John Dineen, who will leave the company.

Milwaukee-based Organic Research Corp. is one of five Wisconsin bioscience companies to be named winners of BIOforward’s 2014 Emerging Company Showcase, sponsored by The Center for Technology Commercialization, Madison Gas and Electric, and First Business Bank.

New research exploring the effectiveness of employer-to-employee benefit communication during open enrollment and beyond shows that 40 percent to 50 percent of consumers express dissatisfaction with content clarity, depth, variety, frequency and degree of personalization of employer healthcare benefit communications. Meanwhile, employers rated their communications to be nearly 20 percentage points more effective than consumers perceive them to be.

Watertown Regional Medical Center’s board of directors has selected LifePoint Hospitals to form a joint venture partnership that aims to “allow WRMC to thrive in the midst of the biggest wave of change in healthcare in half a century.” LifePoint was one of 23 hospital systems considered, including all regional systems in Wisconsin.