Quality Assurance

Israel H. "Sonny" Weiner, a retired Lutherville neurosurgeon who had been president of the Maryland Board of Physician Quality Assurance, died of cancer Sept. 11 at Seasons Hospice at Northwest Hospital Center. The longtime Stevenson resident was 82. Born in Baltimore, the son of a hardware store owner and a homemaker, Dr. Weiner was raised in the city's Park Circle neighborhood. He was a 1945 graduate of City College and served in the Navy from 1945 to 1946. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1949 from the Johns Hopkins University.

Alysia Marcoux , of Baltimore, has been appointed Merrill Edge Financial Solutions Advisor, serving customers in Columbia and Ellicott City. In her new position, Marcous will provide customers with financial solutions and guidance to help them manage their banking and investment needs and stay in better control of their finances. Tammy Fletcher , of Havre de Grace, has joined The Arc of Howard County, in Ellicott City, as Assistant Director of Quality Assurance. In her new position, Fletcher will be responsible for promoting and protecting the rights, safety, satisfaction and community inclusion of the individuals supported by the agency.

New positionsMcCormick & Co. names Lawrence vice president of quality assuranceMcCormick & Co. Inc., the Sparks-based spice company, selected Roger T. Lawrence as vice president of quality assurance. The Timonium resident is a DePaul University graduate and is a member of the American Society for Quality Control and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.Koscher, Milliken appointed to posts at Sheraton HotelThe Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel has appointed Jon Koscher general manager and Sandra Milliken account manager.

Israel H. "Sonny" Weiner, a retired Lutherville neurosurgeon who had been president of the Maryland Board of Physician Quality Assurance, died of cancer Sept. 11 at Seasons Hospice at Northwest Hospital Center. The longtime Stevenson resident was 82. Born in Baltimore, the son of a hardware store owner and a homemaker, Dr. Weiner was raised in the city's Park Circle neighborhood. He was a 1945 graduate of City College and served in the Navy from 1945 to 1946. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1949 from the Johns Hopkins University.

New positionsCertified Network Systems appoints Baranick presidentCertified Network Systems & Services has promoted Annemarie Baranick to president of the Gaithersburg-based data and voice communications networks design company. She will retain her position as chief financial officer as well as oversee daily operations. Baranick previously was vice president of finance and administration for Terminal Networks Inc. of Silver Spring.Hearth & Home promotes Setree to presidentHearth & Home Distributors, headquartered in Columbia, named Jim Setree president.

Dr. Bruce L. Regan has been relieved of his duties as superintendent of the Spring Grove Hospital Center.The action was a response to disciplinary action taken against him last month by the state Board of Physician Quality Assurance for writing improper prescriptions in his private psychiatric practice.Mike Golden, a spokesman for the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, said Regan was transferred today to department headquarters in Baltimore, where he is to do "quality assurance work" for Dr. Harvey Kalin, clinical director of the state Mental Health Administration.

The state's medical discipline board has suspended a Baltimore gynecologist's license to practice medicine pending further review of 12 patients' allegations of sexual misconduct.The patients accused Dr. Mohammad R. Farzanfar, a doctor in practice for 30 years, of trying to sexually arouse them after conducting Pap smears, pelvic exams and other medical procedures.One patient quoted Dr. Farzanfar as saying he "was waiting to do this for years," while another said the gynecologist wanted to know why her husband couldn't satisfy her. Several of the women said they had been patients for many years before Dr. Farzanfar did anything inappropriate and that his conduct began to change in the last few years, according to documents released by the state board.

K Bank announced that Roger Lee joined the Owings Mills-based bank as senior vice president of commercial lending. He formerly was a vice president and loan officer with Mercantile Safe-Deposit & Trust Co. Mid-Atlantic Business Finance Co. appointed William B. Freeman Jr. as vice president of operations. He is responsible for underwriting loans for presentation to the company's board and the U.S. Small Business Administration. Education Goucher College appointed Marc M. Roy as the Towson liberal arts college's provost and chief academic officer.

Repairs close Obrecht, Freter roads, Stoney Lane The Carroll County Department of Public Works has announced road projects for this week. For information about projects, contact Carroll County Bureau of Engineering at 410-386-2171: Storm drain installation: Gorsuch Road and Center Street roundabout; Penn Hill Road in Valley Hill Farms. Closed for reconstruction (local traffic only): Obrecht Road from White Rock Road to Route 97. Closed for bridge reconstruction: Stoney Lane; Freter Road (at the bridge)

New positionsMcCormick names Fajardo quality assurance directorMcCormick & Co. has appointed Raul F. Fajardo as director of quality assurance. He will lead the quality assurance managers' group responsible for developing and implementing improvements to the Sparks-based spice maker's quality system. Formerly with Nabisco Foods, he is a member of the Institute of Food Technologists and the American Society for Quality Control. The Westminster resident is a native of Cuba and a graduate of Michigan State University.

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield launched yesterday a new program designed to reward physicians for practices that improve patients' health - an approach it believes could ultimately lower medical costs. CareFirst, the region's largest insurer with about 3 million members, said it would pay doctors as much as 7 percent extra for meeting a variety of standards of care. Those measures are a mix of process (if women get needed mammograms), service (if there are weekend or evening hours) and outcomes (if patients lower their cholesterol)

K Bank announced that Roger Lee joined the Owings Mills-based bank as senior vice president of commercial lending. He formerly was a vice president and loan officer with Mercantile Safe-Deposit & Trust Co. Mid-Atlantic Business Finance Co. appointed William B. Freeman Jr. as vice president of operations. He is responsible for underwriting loans for presentation to the company's board and the U.S. Small Business Administration. Education Goucher College appointed Marc M. Roy as the Towson liberal arts college's provost and chief academic officer.

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield launched yesterday a program to pay doctors as much as $20,000 to install electronic patient records systems designed to reduce medical errors and allow for more precise tracking of the care patients receive. With the program, CareFirst joins a growing "pay-for-performance" movement in which insurers and employers seek to provide incentives for doctors to provide better care. A number of other participants in the recordkeeping bonus plan were also announced yesterday, potentially covering 2 million patients in 10 states.

Repairs close Obrecht, Freter roads, Stoney Lane The Carroll County Department of Public Works has announced road projects for this week. For information about projects, contact Carroll County Bureau of Engineering at 410-386-2171: Storm drain installation: Gorsuch Road and Center Street roundabout; Penn Hill Road in Valley Hill Farms. Closed for reconstruction (local traffic only): Obrecht Road from White Rock Road to Route 97. Closed for bridge reconstruction: Stoney Lane; Freter Road (at the bridge)

A report last year by a national accreditation agency on the error-plagued laboratory at Maryland General Hospital gave the facility generally high marks even though inspectors found that it had not been following a required quality assurance plan for a year before the review. The "confidential" accreditation report, which was released yesterday by the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, was completed by the College of American Pathologists in April 2003. At the same time, state inspectors later learned, the testing facility was experiencing major problems and was issuing test results for HIV and hepatitis even though instrument readings indicated that the tests might be wrong.

Sen. Paula C. Hollinger said last night that she has reached an agreement with the state's medical lobby on a bill to change the way doctors in Maryland are licensed and disciplined. For weeks, the Baltimore County Democrat has been locked in a battle with the Maryland State Medical Society, known as MedChi, over her efforts to make it easier to punish bad doctors. Hollinger and other lawmakers say the standard of proof is too high, which leads to too few disciplinary actions. Currently, a case against a doctor must be proven through "clear and convincing evidence."

A 43-year-old Pikesville internist who prosecutors said traded drugs for sex in his office, and who later had his medical license revoked, has been ordered to pay $358,000 in fines, restitution and costs for bilking Medicaid for the "office visits," the state attorney's general office said.The fine is the largest amount a single doctor has agreed to pay the Maryland Medical Assistance Program in the 12-year history of the attorney general's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, prosecutors said.Dr.

A surgeon training at University of Maryland Medical Center has been granted a state medical license despite a history of prescription fraud and drug abuse.The State Board of Physician Quality Assurance voted Oct. 1 to issue a medical license to Dr. John L. Flowers Jr., of Glen Burnie, but imposed a long list of conditions, including twice-weekly urine tests and close supervision of his work during a five-year probation.Flowers has admitted writing bogus prescriptions for diet pills and painkillers for himself and his wife, and to using marijuana even after he was caught in the prescription fraud.

Sen. Paula C. Hollinger said last night that she has reached an agreement with the state's medical lobby on a bill to change the way doctors in Maryland are licensed and disciplined. For weeks, the Baltimore County Democrat has been locked in a battle with the Maryland State Medical Society, known as MedChi, over her efforts to make it easier to punish bad doctors. Hollinger and other lawmakers say the standard of proof is too high, which leads to too few disciplinary actions. Currently, a case against a doctor must be proven through "clear and convincing evidence."

Susan Abbott, an executive at McCormick & Co. and a leader in the spice industry, died of breast cancer Friday at Brightwood Center in Lutherville. The Cockeysville resident was 54. In her 32 years with the Baltimore-area grocery products company, Ms. Abbott became the senior technical supervisor at its spice mill and headed its quality assurance program. She was most recently McCormick's vice president for regulatory and environmental affairs, and was the first female president of the American Spice Trade Association.