Business First-Columbus articles from October 1998

Business First-Columbus archives from October 1998

Medicare HMOs drop counties. (health maintenance organizations in Ohio)
October 9, 1998... Coverage areas cut as costs escalate Financial losses are so high at some health-care providers that Central Ohio will have fewer Medicare HMOs come January. Ohio Health Alliance, a joint venture between Ohio State University Medical Center...

McCoy: still mum on depth of job cuts at new Bank One. (interview with Bank One CEO John B. McCoy)(Interview)
October 9, 1998... On Sept. 30, two days before Columbus-based Banc One Corp. signed its merger agreement with First Chicago NBD Corp., John B. McCoy, chief executive of the newly formed Bank One Corp. answered some questions from Business First reporter Doug...

New bank has look of old bank - for now. (Bank One Corp.)
October 9, 1998... The effects of Bank One Corp.'s moving its headquarters from Columbus to Chicago appear to be more Darwinesque than Big Bang. Six months after disclosing its merger with First Chicago NBD Corp. in a deal valued at $18.9 billion, the jobs...

Bank One planting major facility at Polaris. (commercial bank's new office building in Ohio)
October 9, 1998... Bank One Corp. plans to more than double its office space at Polaris with a four-story office building for 3,800 employees. When it opens, as early as 2000, the building would pull in employees from leased office space throughout Central Ohio...

Industry, investors wait for Sun TV turnabout. (Sun Television and Appliances Inc. to open new store in Easton, Ohio)
October 9, 1998... Sun Television & Appliances, reorganizing since filing for protection from creditors in Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., last month, hopes to open a 20,000-square-foot store in Easton that will target affluent customers for the Christmas...

Mount Carmel, Aetna reach accord after threatened split. (Mount Carmel Health System's contract with Aetna U.S. Healthcare Inc.)
October 9, 1998... Mount Carmel Health System was one step away from pulling out of the Aetna U.S. Healthcare Inc. network until both agreed to a one-year contract Oct. 7. Mount Carmel officials sent a letter to more than 1,500 physicians affiliated with the...

Help to expand subscriptions extended to arts organizations. (Bank One Columbus' One for One program)
October 9, 1998... A program bankrolled by Bank One will allow Columbus arts organizations to use what they learned in this spring's $60,000 marketing study and key in on growing their audiences. David Lauer, president of Bank One Columbus and a trustee with the...

Like magic. (Columbus, Ohio-based advertising company Gerbig Snell Weisheimer and Associates)
October 9, 1998... A simple trick to increasing productivity is boosting employee morale In the last 12 months, Columbus-based advertising agency Gerbig Snell Weisheimer & Associates landed several pharmaceutical accounts with drug giant Eli Lilly & Co., adding...

Rivals see subtle benefit to shift in Bank One HQ. (market share of Columbus, Ohio, banks)
October 9, 1998... It is business as usual for Huntington National Bank and other competitors in Columbus now that the area's largest bank, Bank One, has shifted its headquarters to Chicago from Columbus. Gary Glaser, National City Bank chairman, said the...

Nationwide to Grove City side. (Nationwide Insurance Enterprise)
October 16, 1998... Insurer moves 500 downtown jobs to SouthPark Nationwide Insurance Enterprise will move 500 downtown office jobs to Grove City. The move expands the insurer's earlier plans to consolidate its 300-employee printing operations in an industrial...

Credit crunch? Lenders, borrowers say not yet.
October 16, 1998... Eve Hush didn't have to look very hard when her insurance agency needed money to get its computers ready for the Year 2000. Hush, president of the A.O. Wing Agency Inc. in Columbus, went back to Commerce National Bank where she received...

Corporate Exchange complex active again with new building. (construction of speculative office building in Columbus, Ohio)
October 16, 1998... A Daimler Group/Capitol square Ltd. partnership is extending its surge of Northeast office projects, beginning construction on a six-story, 162,000-square-foot speculative office building along Corporate Exchange Drive. Work on the $17 million...

Allegiance deal offers new markets to Cardinal Health.
October 16, 1998... With its planned acquisition of Allegiance Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. will be able to tap more widely into the hospital market and acquire an international presence, analysts say. A fast-growing Fortune 200 firm based in Dublin, Cardinal has...

Area FBI supervisor named to NASD security position. (David A. Hanna)
October 16, 1998... After 10 years of heading the FBI unit in Central Ohio, David A. Hanna will tackle security issues in stock trading on the Nasdaq market. The National Association of Securities Dealers, or NASD, the self-regulatory business that oversees the...

Insurance Department adds policy types to oversight list. (Ohio)
October 16, 1998... Rest assured the next time you agree to car rental insurance, the person offering it will have an insurance license - but don't expect them to know much about the industry. The Ohio Department of Insurance has completed rules stemming from the...

Utility stranded cost figures estimated at $11.7B in Ohio.
October 16, 1998... A survey of electric utilities in 11 states, including Ohio, shows taxpayers are being asked to cover as much as $112 billion for recovery of stranded costs, says two Ohio watchdog organizations. Stranded costs are the value of utility assets...

Greg and 'Cecelia' celebrate 15 years of business together. (Plumbing Doctor's Greg Green)
October 16, 1998... As the cellular telephone celebrates its 15th birthday this month, a local businessman is nearing the end of a career that has flourished because of the wireless technology. Greg Green is a master plumber who has operated the Plumbing Doctor...

Columbus 'vulnerable' to glut. (office building construction in Columbus, Ohio)
October 23, 1998... FDIC cautions lenders about overbuilding A banking regulator is warning that Columbus may be in danger of becoming glutted with vacant office space, but local observers are skeptical of the forecast. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., in a...

Court clears way for Tobin to add Buick store. (construction of a Buick dealership in Columbus, Ohio by General Motors franchisee Dan Tobin)
October 23, 1998... A third court has ruled General Motors is within its fight to establish a fourth Buick dealership in Columbus, a decision that would allow Dan Tobin to build the auto store off Sawmill Road. Bob Daniels Buick on Morse Road had appealed a 1996...

Hospitals tally record number of ER visits. (utilization of emergency medical services in Central Ohio)
October 23, 1998... Grant Medical Center shows biggest increase Central Ohio hospitals are reporting a record number of visits to their emergency rooms, an expensive trend as far as managed-care companies are concerned. And hospital officials can't explain why...

Diabetics care firm selects GSW for marketing campaign. (LXN Corp.'s commissioning of Gerbig Snell/Weisheimer & Associates Inc. as the official advertiser of its Duet Glucose Control System)
October 23, 1998... Gerbig Snell/Weisheimer & Associates Inc., the Columbus-based advertising agency that has developed a specialty in pharmaceutical advertising, has landed a California-based client with a new system that helps diabetics better measure their blood...

Scantland jazzes 2 stations' reach with new radio tower. (Scantland Broadcasting Ltd.)
October 23, 1998... Dublin-based Scantland Broadcasting Ltd. has built 435-foot-high tower outside Pickerington to extend its jazz stations' reach into downtown Columbus and some of Central Ohio's affluent communities. Radio stations WZJZ and WJZA, which have...

High-end housing aimed at growing Stelzer corridor. (Stelzer Road in Columbus, Ohio)
October 23, 1998... A Columbus development group plans to tap the success of office and retail projects along the Stelzer Road corridor for a 17-acre high-end residential community along McCutcheon Road. SRP Ltd. has sold eight of 42 single-family-home lots at...

FTC won't stand in the way of OhioHealth-Doctors deal. (Federal Trade Commission)
October 23, 1998... OhioHealth and Doctors Hospital have received clearance from antitrust regulators for their merger, but managed-care providers still fear a combination of the hospital systems could spell higher prices for Central Ohio businesses. "This...

Credit unions hope member rules get settled in January.
October 23, 1998... Some fear Congress won't decide issue of family membership before the deadline Small businesses will have more credit unions open to them, perhaps as early as next year, when a two-year membership moratorium for Ohio's federally chartered...

Drury Inn checks in with convention center connection. (construction of a hotel connected to the Greater Columbus Convention Center)
October 23, 1998... A St. Louis-based hotel developer and operator has taken the lead in plans for a limited-service hotel connected to the Greater Columbus Convention Center. The Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority board on Oct. 20 approved entering...

Lack of data, licensing shows alternative care coverage. (proposal to approve alternative medicine therapy as a standard medical procedure)
October 23, 1998... HMOs are taking a go-slow approach to incorporating alternative medicine therapies into their repertoire of approved medical procedures. Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, for instance, is responding to local consumer demand for the insurance...

Joint bid to Madison.(Mount Carmel Health System and Ohio State University Medical Center partners to seek affiliation with Madison County Hospital)
October 30, 1998... OSU, Mount Carmel seek affiliation with hospital Mount Carmel Health System and Ohio State University Medical Center have created an unprecedented business partnership in an effort to win an affiliation with Madison county Hospital. ...

Pursuit of sponsorship goal a new test of Rahal's skills.(Team Rahal co-owner Bobby Rahal)
October 30, 1998... On eve of his last competition, area racer prepares to market his team to corporate Columbus Expect Bobby Rahal to increase his visibility on the Columbus business circuit even as the three-time CART racing champion ends his 25-year...

Sarcom pushes deeper south with its acquisition of DPEC.(computer services provider acquires full-service computer network systems integrator)
October 30, 1998... Sarcom Inc. expects to intensify its buying spree next year, with the hope of being recognized as a national computer services provider, according to a top executive of the fast-growing Columbus-based company. Sarcom has acquired DPEC, a...

James, Anthem in a study to help predict health costs.(Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Research Institute and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield)
October 30, 1998... A local health plan and hospital are collaborating in a national effort to develop care guidelines for cancer patients aimed at providing the best avenue of treatment while better managing costs. Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Research...

Parallel Tech expansion aided by Comdial support.(Parallel Technologies Inc.'s contract with Comdial Corp.)
October 30, 1998... Parallel Technologies Inc. wants to take the paperless office across Ohio and will open several branch offices to do it. The Dublin-based communications systems provider has reached an agreement with one of its major suppliers to finance...

Council to consider incentives to put PH Group into CityGate.(Columbus, Ohio gives tax incentives to hydraulic presses and injection molding equipment manufacturer)
October 30, 1998... A Columbus manufacturer of hydraulic presses and injection molding equipment has gained a state tax break for a proposed relocation and expansion project in the Stelzer Road corridor. PH Group Inc. and developer Carey Leggett Realty...

Griffith drawing a new plan to enhance CCAD's profile.(Columbus College of Art and Design Pres. Dennison Griffith)
October 30, 1998... New president has an agenda built on collaborations When GenX Studios needed some design ideas for the playground equipment it produces, the Akron company went to the Columbus College of Art and Design for help. "We work a lot in the...

Finance firms say new lottery rule leaves them with a losing ticket.(tax regulation)
October 30, 1998... An obscure tax provision in the recently passed federal spending bill could put state governments in direct competition with private financing companies. Led by U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., Congress approved a measure that will allow...

Unfamiliar territory.(immigrant-owned small businesses in Columbus, Ohio)
October 30, 1998... Natan Zisman wants to learn how to expand his new franchise business, a mobile dry cleaner called Pressed 4 Time. Angela Tasheyeva, a recent immigrant from the former Soviet Union, wants advice in reaching her dream of opening a beauty...

Gas program draws kudos from PUCO.(Public Utilities Commission of Ohio is pleased with Columbia Gas of Ohio Inc.'s Customer Choice program)
October 30, 1998... Nearly 13 percent of the 1.3 million customers of Columbia Gas of Ohio who are eligible to choose a new natural gas supplier have done just that during the first 60 days of the gas company's "Customer Choice" program. Savings of 10 percent...

Buyers, sellers at odds on electric power plan details.(Ohio's electricity deregulation bills)
October 30, 1998... The debate surrounding electricity deregulation has been a hot topic this year. However, legislators still have not made any decisions on a final plan for deregulation, and the issue likely will remain on the front burner again in 1999. ...