News in brief - Oct. 22/29, 2001

IDX blames Sept. 11 for shortfall - PacifiCare buys prescribing technology - Nasdaq gives break to struggling e-health firms - Handheld effort to reduce errors - New Internet domain names emerge - SEC files suit in HBO & Co. accounting fraud - Medscape adds lab results to digital medical records - Content deal for MD Consult

IDX blames Sept. 11 for shortfall

IDX Systems Corp., which sells technology to hospitals and physicians, on Sept. 28 said it expected a net loss of 27 cents to 36 cents per share for the third quarter, well below analysts' break-even expectations.

Richard Tarrant, IDX's chief executive officer, said sales had been improving, but that the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., "disrupted our forward progress."

The Burlington, Vt.-based company said it would launch a restructuring, including unspecified job cuts, that would save it $20 million to $25 million in 2002. As a result, IDX expects to take a charge to its fourth-quarter earnings.

PacifiCare buys prescribing technology

PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. won the bid to acquire the assets of Parkstone Medical Information Systems, a Weston, Fla.-based maker of a handheld-based electronic prescribing system, auctioned off this month at bankruptcy court in Florida.

The Santa Ana, Calif.-based managed care company's bid of $1.15 million in cash and stock for Parkstone, which filed for bankruptcy protection in July, was expected to close at press time. The purchase price is a fraction of the more than $59 million the information systems company had attracted from venture capital firms since it was founded in 1997.

Nasdaq gives break to struggling e-health firms

The Nasdaq National Market has temporarily waived some of its listing requirements, giving a break to troubled e-health and other companies that were at risk of being booted off the exchange.

Normally, when a company's stock closes below $1 a share or fails to trade at least 750,000 shares for 30 trading days, Nasdaq notifies the company that it has 90 days to meet its minimum listing requirements or be delisted. But Nasdaq is waiving those two rules until Jan. 2, 2002, because of the "extraordinary market conditions" caused by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

That means it will be spring 2002 before companies could be delisted under Nasdaq's minimum trading price and public float requirements.

Handheld effort to reduce errors

San Carlos, Calif.-based ePocrates Inc. has reached an agreement under which it will disseminate medication warning and safety alerts from The Institute for Safe Medication Practices and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to physicians using its handheld-based prescribing system.

New Internet domain names emerge

Starting this month, the Internet address system expanded by two new domains. They are ".biz" for businesses and ".info" for all uses.

Five additional domains will become effective later this year and in 2002. They are ".aero" for the air-transport industry; ".coop" for cooperatives; ".museum" for museums; ".name" for individuals, and ".pro" for professions.

SEC files suit in HBO & Co. accounting fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a civil suit against six executives for allegedly committing accounting fraud and falsifying records when they worked for the former HBO & Co., a firm that sold information systems to physicians and others.

The suit is the second complaint the SEC has filed in the case involving the accounting scandal, which McKesson Corp. discovered after it had purchased the Atlanta-based health care technology firm for about $12 billion in 1999. The SEC filed civil and criminal charges last year against three other former HBOC executives.

Medscape adds lab results to digital medical records

Medscape has announced an agreement under which it will incorporate lab results performed by Dynacare Laboratories Inc., Dallas, into its Logician electronic medical records system, enabling appropriate physicians to electronically access the results as well as their patient's medical records.

The agreement is "an important step for Medscape toward realizing the goal of total integration of all clinical data within the electronic medical record," the Hillsboro, Ore.-based company said. It is the second deal the company has struck with a major clinical laboratory system in as many years. Last year, Medscape inked an agreement with Laboratory Corp. of America, Burlington, N.C.

Content deal for MD Consult

MD Consult LLC, a St. Louis-based online health information company, has reached an agreement that will give its 240,000 physician and other health care subscribers full-text, electronic access to publications, practice guidelines and patient education material from the American Academy of Family Practice.