Ihs

Integrated Health Services Inc. of Owings Mills said it has acquired a Florida chain of rehabilitation therapy clinics and an .. Illinois company that provides contract hospice services. Terms were not disclosed.The moves are part of IHS' continuing effort to position itself in the market to provide health care in settings that are less expensive -- and offer less intensive care -- than an ordinary hospital.One acquisition is Rehab Management Systems Inc. of Lakeland, Fla., which offers outpatient rehabilitation care at 18 hospitals, two IHS subacute care centers and seven free-standing clinics.

Trans Healthcare Inc. and Abe Briarwood Corp. - rival bidders for Integrated Health Services Inc., the bankrupt Sparks-based nursing home chain - have reached a deal in which Briarwood would acquire IHS' buildings and THI would lease and operate them, Anthony Misitano, THI's chief executive officer, said yesterday. If approved by the bankruptcy court, the deal would pave the way for THI, now based in Camp Hill, Pa., to move to IHS' Sparks office and operate the company. The accord between the two companies came on the eve of a hearing tomorrow in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., where THI was to have challenged Briarwood's deal to buy IHS. Yesterday, THI filed a motion with the court withdrawing its earlier objection and supporting the Briarwood deal.

The stock of Integrated Health Services Inc. rebounded yesterday from a blow delivered by a negative news story, despite a fresh disclosure that the company's chairman and president recently sold nearly all their shares.Dr. Robert N. Elkins, chairman and chief executive officer, sold 133,507 shares of IHS in late January, at prices ranging from $38.75 to $38.625 a share, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The sale, which was worth about $5.27 million, left him with no shares.

Trans Healthcare Inc., which signed an agreement last month to buy Integrated Health Services Inc. out of bankruptcy reorganization, challenged yesterday the apparent winning bid for the nursing home operator headquartered in Sparks. Integrated Health announced Friday that Abe Briarwood Corp. had topped Trans Health- care's bid in an auction conducted Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. The Briarwood bid is not really higher than his company's offer, Anthony Misitano, Trans Healthcare's chief executive officer, said yesterday.

Continuing a series of transactions to raise money to reduce debt, Integrated Health Services Inc. of Owings Mills announced yesterday that it has sold 32 nursing homes for $135 million in cash, but will continue to operate the facilities under a management contract.The deal involves two companies with ties to IHS. Monarch Properties L.P., a real estate investment trust founded by Dr. Robert N. Elkins, bought the facilities.Elkins is chairman and chief executive officer of IHS.Monarch, in turn, will lease the facilities to Lyric Health Care LLC. IHS owns half of Lyric; the other half is owned by Timothy Nicholson, a member of the IHS board.

Integrated Health Services Inc. yesterday reported improved operating margins for the last quarter of 1997, but posted a loss after one-time charges stemming from two acquisitions.After the charges of $87.9 million, IHS, the Owings Mills operator of facilities and services for post-hospital care, posted a $61.9 million loss, or $1.59 a share. Before the charges, IHS had a profit of $27.9 million for the quarter, or 64 cents a share. For the last quarter of 1996, IHS earned $14.4 million, or 53 cents a share.

Dr. Robert N. Elkins, who built Integrated Health Services Inc. into a Fortune 500 company, only to see it spiral into bankruptcy last year, will leave the company in the next few days after court approval of a severance package worth nearly $55 million. Elkins has led the nursing home chain, which has its headquarters in Sparks, since he started it in 1986, but his aggressive acquisition strategy also led to problems. And when the federal government cut Medicare reimbursements to nursing homes in 1998, IHS was unable to meet its debt payments.

Integrated Health Services Inc. said yesterday that it had a net loss of $4.6 million, or 10 cents a share, in its second quarter, a result the company attributed to the continuing adverse impact of a new Medicare payment system.Owings Mills-based IHS, a provider of post-hospital services, including nursing and rehabilitation, lost 3 cents more per share than was projected by eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.For the second quarter, the company posted net earnings of $43.7 million, or 80 cents a share.

Integrated Health Services Inc. announced yesterday that it will not make a required interest payment on $150 million in bonds, the latest sign that the Sparks-based health-services provider is facing a severe liquidity crisis.IHS' decision to skip the $7.7 million in interest payments that was due yesterday comes on the heels of two consecutive quarterly losses totaling more than $10 million, significant layoffs and a sharp drop in the value of its common stock.The company's stock closed yesterday at 31.25 cents a share, up 3.125 cents, before the company's announcement.

Integrated Health Services Inc. has hit an atypical bad patch.The Owings Mills nursing home chain has grown spectacularly since it went public in 1991.Through the purchase of nursing homes and related businesses, IHS' revenue increased from less than $150 million in 1991 to more than $3 billion in 1998.But recently:The stock lost more than 80 percent of its value, plummeting from a 52-week high of $39.375 in April to an all-time low of $7.0625 on Friday.IHS warned Feb. 11 that earnings for the last quarter of 1998 are likely to be 35 to 45 cents a share, not the 75 cents expected by analysts.

CAMP HILL, Pa. - Where others might see a nursing home industry in trouble, Trans Healthcare Inc. sees an opportunity. That's what lured THI to the bankrupt Sparks-based Integrated Health Services Inc., which it has agreed to buy in a deal valued at $327.5 million. Assuming that the sale wins approval in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, THI will move its headquarters to IHS' Sparks campus, retaining the 675-person work force there. The acquisition would roughly triple Trans Healthcare's size, making it a significant player in the industry and a major presence in the Baltimore area.

Integrated Health Services' creditors said yesterday that they support a plan to sell the Sparks-based company to Trans Healthcare Inc. Glenn B. Rice, a lawyer for a committee of the creditors, said it was convinced the sale was the best deal that could be reached for the company, which has been attempting reorganization under bankruptcy protection for nearly three years. "The people who sat on the committee have the most at stake and supported the process," Rice said. The deal to sell Integrated to Trans Healthcare Inc., a fast-growing nursing home company based in Camp Hill, Pa., was announced this month.

Trans Healthcare Inc., a growing nursing home operator, has signed a deal to buy Integrated Health Services Inc. of Sparks in a transaction that would close the book on a local company that grew in a few years into an industry giant, then plunged even more rapidly into bankruptcy. Trans Healthcare, which operates 94 nursing homes, would triple in size if a bankruptcy court approves the deal. It would take over operation of about 180 IHS homes in the deal, and would move its headquarters from Camp Hill, Pa., to the IHS campus in northern Baltimore County.

Sparks-based Integrated Health Services, in bankruptcy reorganization for more than two years, is receiving bids on its nursing homes and other assets, several analysts and other industry sources said yesterday. A company spokesman, Robert Mead, said the company has not made a decision to sell its assets rather than try to emerge from bankruptcy as an operating company. The company has an obligation to "examine all the alternatives," he said. There is speculation in the industry that Kindred Healthcare Inc., of Louisville, Ky., is a likely buyer of IHS' nursing homes.

Nearly 80 acres that were part of the Sparks campus of the bankrupt Integrated Health Services Inc. have been sold to two local developers who plan to build offices. The parcels are among the last available in northern Baltimore County that are zoned for commercial development and have infrastructure in place. While demand for office space is unclear given the economic downturn, the buyers are optimistic that local or out-of-town companies will want to locate new headquarters or expand on the site.

Dr. Robert N. Elkins moved boldly to build Integrated Health Services, the Sparks-based nursing home chain, in barely more than a decade. Now, within a few days, Elkins will be officially leaving the company he founded, in return for a severance package valued at nearly $55 million. He could not be reached for comment. From a start-up, IHS grew to a company with 1,500 nursing homes and other facilities in 47 states, and $3 billion a year in revenue. Along the way, Elkins became known not only for his business strategy, but also for his lavish bonuses - $3.25 million in 1997 - and perks such as his corporate jet. But the company's fortunes quickly went sour in 1998, as Medicare, on which it depended for a third of revenue, cut its payments.

As it had warned a month ago, Integrated Health Services Inc. posted lower fourth-quarter earnings yesterday that were dragged down by a new Medicare payment system.Earnings for the quarter that ended Dec. 31 were $10.8 million, or 21 cents a share. That reflects $15 million in severance and other costs as IHS adjusted to new Medicare payments, particularly to a sharp drop in demand for its contract therapy services.Without the effects of the severance and transition costs, earnings were $19.6 million, or 37 cents a share, compared with $27.54 million, or 61 cents a share, from continuing operations and before one-time charges for the same period a year ago.The 1997 fourth quarter, however, also included a $82.1 million one-time charge related to acquisitions, for a net loss of $61.9 million, or $1.59 a share.

Struggling to cope with a new Medicare payment system, Integrated Health Services Inc. said yesterday that its earnings for the quarter that ended Dec. 31 would be about half of what analysts had been projecting.Joel Ray, an analyst for Wheat First Union in Richmond, Va., said he and others had been expecting Owings Mills-based IHS to earn 75 to 80 cents for the quarter, rather than the 35 to 45 cents the company says it expects.In its announcement, IHS said it was on track for the quarter in its nursing homes and its RoTech division, which offers home respiratory services and durable medical equipment.

Dr. Robert N. Elkins, who built Integrated Health Services Inc. into a Fortune 500 company, only to see it spiral into bankruptcy last year, will leave the company in the next few days after court approval of a severance package worth nearly $55 million. Elkins has led the nursing home chain, which has its headquarters in Sparks, since he started it in 1986, but his aggressive acquisition strategy also led to problems. And when the federal government cut Medicare reimbursements to nursing homes in 1998, IHS was unable to meet its debt payments.

The Justice Department confirmed yesterday that it is joining a whistle-blower lawsuit charging Medicare fraud against Integrated Health Services, the Sparks-based nursing home chain now in bankruptcy reorganization. The original suit was filed last year by a social worker at an IHS facility in Dallas, alleging that the facility admitted patients who did not need its level of care and billed Medicare for services that were never delivered. Thelma Quince Colbert, lead assistant U.S. attorney for civil enforcement in Fort Worth, Texas, said yesterday that her office filed notice Friday that it was intervening in the case in U.S. District Court in Dallas.