Ihs

Integrated Health Services Inc. said yesterday that it had a net loss of $6.6 million, or 13 cents a share, in its first quarter, a result the company attributed to the adverse impact of a new Medicare payment system. For the first quarter of 1998, the Owings Mills-based company posted net earnings of $37.6 million, or 73 cents a share. Net revenue in the quarter that ended March 31 totaled $620.4 million, or 19 percent less than in the 1998 quarter. Estimates had been for earnings of 6 cents a share, according to eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.

Integrated Health Services yesterday said its earnings for the last quarter of 1995 will be 51 or 52 cents a share -- less than analysts' expectations of about 57 cents.The Owings Mills-based company, which provides a variety of subacute and post-acute health services, attributed the shortfall an accounting change, cancellation of a large management contract in California and problems with a hospice acquisition.IHS's stock fell nearly 9 percent on the news, shedding $2.375 to close at $22.125.

A Hunt Valley-based operator of geriatric nursing facilities has filed a statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering expected to generate about $40 million.Integrated Health Services Inc. plans to sell 3 million shares of common stock at a price anticipated to be about $13 per share, according to a release issued by the company. Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co.Inc. and Kidder, Peabody & Co. have been selected to underwrite the transaction. There would be nearly 7 million shares of common stock outstanding after the offering, vTC IHS said in its prospectus.

Integrated Health Services of Owings Mills yesterday announced plans to acquire Standish Care Co. for $17 million and merge it into IHS' assisted-living division.The agreement is subject to approval by the boards of both companies and by shareholders of Standish, who would receive $5 a share in the transaction. There are about 3.4 million shares outstanding.Standish, based in Burlington, Mass., develops and manages assisted-living facilities, in which elderly residents are provided some help, but less than in a nursing home.

After reaching an all-time high price Friday, the stock of fast-growing Integrated Health Services Inc. of Owings Mills suddenly dropped yesterday after a published report raised concerns about the company's operations and future.The Wall Street Journal's widely read Heard on the Street column reported yesterday on a Florida lawsuit brought by a former IHS official, a possible change in Medicare reimbursement rules and an analyst's skeptical comments about the company, the nation's leading provider of post-hospital medical care.

Integrated Health Services Inc. of Owings Mills has completed the sale of its money-losing home health division to Medshares Inc.IHS announced in October that it was planning to sell the division. Lower federal reimbursement was the main driver of the decision to get out of home health, Marc B. Levin, IHS executive vice president, said yesterday.Terms of the sale to the privately held Memphis, Tenn., firm were not disclosed.IHS stock slipped yesterday by $1.50, or 11.8 percent, to close at $11.1875 a share.

In a nondescript business park near downtown Redmond, Wash., a baby Microsoft is being born.Behind a door labeled simply IHS, with the slogan "No Crybabies," the software keys to an electronic-imaging kingdom are being forged.IHS, for Interactive Home Systems, is keeping the exact nature of its strategic planning under wraps. But backing it are the vision, intensity and financial resources of the man who co-founded Microsoft 17 years ago and is its chairman -- Bill Gates.He may be embarking on a repeat act.Already IHS has extended well beyond its initial charter of providing images for Mr. Gates' new home in Medina, Wash.

Integrated Health Services Inc., the Sparks-based health care giant that flourished by undercutting higher-cost hospitals, finds itself on the critical list, thanks in part to the same cost-cutting pressures that fueled its spectacular growth.Weighed down by staggering debt and shrinking revenue, the once-pioneering IHS warned this month of growing losses and a squeeze on cash flow. It hired the investment house Warburg Dillon Reed LLC and business consultant KPMG LLP to assist in talks with lenders and to develop strategies.

Integrated Health Services of Owings Mills said yesterday NTC that it had raised $45.5 million in cash by selling five nursing homes to a new joint venture it helped create.As part of the deal -- which is aimed at reducing Integrated's debt -- Integrated also signed a 13-year management agreement to continue to run the facilities.Buying the facilities is Lyric Healthcare LLC, which is half-owned by Integrated and half by Timothy Nicholson, chairman of closely held nursing-home operator Speciality Care PLC and a member of Integrated's board.

Home sales continue to climbLow mortgage rates helped push sales of previously owned homes in July to the highest level in more than a year as the housing industry continued to rebound from a winter slump.It was the third straight monthly advance. Except for a dip in the Midwest, sales were up in every region, including a double-digit gain in the West.Many economists have pinned their hopes on housing to help lead the economy out of its near standstill in the April-June quarter because of housing's trickle-down effect on other sectors.