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American Idol judge Randy Jackson premiering guitar line on HSN
Producer, music manager and American Idol judge Randy Jackson launched his first guitar collection, exclusively for St. Petersburg-based multimedia retailer HSN Dec. 16. The “Randy Jackson Diamond Edition Guitar Collection” combines numbered, limited-edition guitars with an instructional DVD featuring Jackson and guitar expert Scott Goldbaum.
“HSN's connection to the entertainment industry and their passion for storytelling makes it the right platform for me to share my inspiration behind this new launch,” he says in a press release.
The limited-edition guitar package includes a choice of either a solid-body electric or an acoustic electric guitar that includes an instructional DVD, a 15W amp, custom case, guitar strap, chord chart poster, polishing cloth, designer picks, certificate of authenticity and more for less than $300.
Florida Blue, NCH Healthcare System partner on Accountable Care Program
Naples-based NCH Healthcare System has reached an agreement with Florida Blue, Florida's Blue Cross and Blue Shield company, to participate in the Florida Blue Accountable Care Program.
The NCH system includes the NCH Downtown Naples Hospital, the NCH North Naples Hospital and the 64 physicians and 25 nurse practitioners and physician assistants employed by NCH.
The program introduces a new payment system with the goals of improving patient care and health and decreasing medical costs. It is one of the first commercial accountable care programs in the state.
Starting early next year, only Florida Blue members participating in fully insured commercial products will be included in the program. The program will then be expanded to other Florida Blue members in future years.
“Both organizations realize the importance of moving away from the fee-for-service model to one that focuses on quality outcomes and cost containment,” Dr. Jonathan Gavras, senior vice president and chief medical officer for Florida Blue, says in a press release.
MobAdWin discounts/promo app launched for Tampa Bay
Clearwater-based MobAdWin LLC has launched its self-named mobile application MobAdWin (short for Mobile Advertising Win-Win) for iOS and Android in Tampa Bay.
The new app offers users discount specials and goodies from advertisers and cash payments for providing feedback on the offers.
Advertisers select their target audience by demographics, geography, interests and more, then approve a budget, generally $1 per person. MobAdWin says the budget is only charged when a certain threshold of responders has been reached and feedback has been provided or the promotion/special has been purchased.
MobAdWin says it also does not take a cut of advertisers' sales.
myMatrixx awarded accreditation for benefit management
Tampa-based pharmacy benefit management and medical services company myMatrixx has received accreditation for Workers' Compensation and Property and Casualty Pharmacy Benefit Management from URAC. Washington, D.C.-based URAC is a health care accrediting organization that establishes quality standards for the health care industry.
First America Bank hires Barr for Sarasota market
First America Bank has hired Greg Barr as its Sarasota market executive. Barr has more than 26 years of commercial lending experience in Sarasota and Manatee counties as well as banking experience in Southwest Florida.
SouthTech's Snyder appointed Community Association tech chair
SouthTech's Business Development Consultant Jessica Snyder has been appointed chair of the technology committee of the Community Association Institute's West Florida Chapter. The committee determines, negotiates and researches all IT-related projects for the Community Association Institute for board approval.
Vista System International sign sold to Le Caudan mall
Sarasota's Vista System International recently supplied its directory wayfinding signage to “Arplex Signaletique Ltd. Mauritius” for installation at the prestigious shopping mall Le Caudan Water Front Mall in Port Louis, Mauritius, an island east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean.
Le Caudan Water Front Mall is a luxury mall featuring 120 shops. Vista System International says the mall wanted signage that fit in with the interior design of the shops and was easily updatable.
Governor's Business Innovators Award honors Voalte executive
Trey Lauderdale, founder and vice president of innovation for Sarasota-based Voalte, earned the prestigious Governor's Innovators in Business Award for “Innovators Under 40” in 2012.
The awards program recognizes Florida companies and business leaders who made outstanding contributions to the state's economic growth.
Lauderdale founded Voalte in 2008 to replace older medical communication tools such as voice badges, pagers and bulky telephones with smartphone technology. Joined by serial entrepreneur and former Apple and Microsoft executive Rob Campbell, who serves as Voalte's CEO, Lauderdale was instrumental in growing the company from a four-person startup to a business that employs more than 50.
“Trey is an incredibly talented entrepreneur,” Campbell says in a press release. “His creativity and drive positioned Voalte for strong early growth, and his passion for delivering exceptional customer service through innovation have been key factors in our ability to achieve marketplace leadership in mobile healthcare in just a few years.”
Lauderdale worked at FP&L, Siemens and Emergin prior to founding Voalte.
Former St. Petersburg mayor joins The Edwards Group as president
Former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker has agreed to become president of The Edwards Group, a group of companies involved in commercial real estate, hotels, entertainment, The Club at Treasure Island, Baywalk and more.
Baker previously practiced corporate and business law, with an emphasis on business acquisitions, at Fisher & Sauls PA from 1981 to 2001. He left as the firm's president when he was elected mayor of St. Petersburg, serving from 2001 to 2010. After leaving office, Baker joined The University of South Florida, where he currently serves as the vice president of economic development. He will leave USF to join The Edwards Group in January.
“Rick Baker is a proven and transformative success story, in both the public and private sectors, who can hit the ground running,” Bill Edwards, chairman of the Edwards Group, says in a press release.
Blake Medical performs county's first specialty heart valve surgery
The cardiology team at Blake Medical Center in Bradenton has successfully performed the first transcatheter aortic valve replacement in Manatee County. The procedure is designed to replace a patient's diseased aortic heart valve without traditional open-heart surgery, using an artificial valve.
Blake Medical Center is among a select group of hospitals in the United States treating patients with the recently approved Edwards SAPIEN Transcatheter Heart Valve. The Edwards device received Food and Drug Administration approval in November 2011.
Prior to the creation of the transcatheter aortic valve replacement, there was no definitive treatment for patients who were unable to undergo surgical aortic valve replacement.
The Blake Medical Center physician team that successfully performed the TAVR procedure included cardiovascular and thoracic surgeons Alessandro Golino and Richard Peterson, interventional cardiologists Gino Sedillo, Srinivas Iyengar and Enrique Rivera and anesthesiologist Tobias Gibson.
Coldwell Banker FL West Coast director promoted to state director
Jaye Love of Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT has been promoted to state commercial director for Florida.
With more than 26 years of experience in commercial real estate, Love has been the commercial director for the West Central Florida region since 2011. Prior to that, she was the Florida director of commercial operations for Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT for seven years. She is a past president of the Florida Gulfcoast Commercial Association of Realtors.
“Jaye has a rich history of leadership for our company, and we're confident that her solid commercial experience will lead to continued growth for Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT in Florida,” Clark Toole, president of Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT, Florida, says in a press release.
Love will continue to be based from Coldwell Banker's Tampa Southwest office at 5010 W. Kennedy Blvd.
Yippy Labs launches consumer level YippyHUB browser extension
Yippy Labs Inc., Fort Myers-based Yippy Inc.'s wholly owned subsidiary, has released the YippyHUB, a consumer version of its browser extension.
The YippyHUB provides users the ability to access filtered content from all search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing anywhere on the Web. It is compatible with all major browsers, including Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Opera and Google Chrome.
“The YippyHUB was designed to provide its users with access to the best of the Web, while filtering out the objectionable and irrelevant websites,” Ed Noel, CEO of Yippy Inc., says in a press release. “YippyHUB provides direct access to the Yippy Search Engine, as well as multiple applications such as games, videos, news and much more.”
The browser extension is available for download at yippyHUB.com.
Florida Hospital Tampa surgeons offering robotic gallbladder surgery
Florida Hospital Tampa is pioneering a new method of gallbladder removal surgery designed to be safer and less costly. The hospital says its surgeons Dr. Sharona Ross and Dr. Alexander Rosemurgy are the first physicians in the United States to perform Laparo-Endoscopic Single-Site (LESS) gallbladder surgeries under an epidural. The two have reportedly done more than 100 of the robot-assisted surgeries.
LESS surgery requires a single incision compared to more tradition four-incision laparoscopy gallbladder surgery and can be done under epidural anesthesia, avoiding the costs and adverse effects of general anesthesia. General anesthesia can be associated with many post-operative complications including nausea, vomiting, sore throat and muscle tenderness.
The surgeries started as a research study of LESS cholecystectomy (gallbladder removal) surgery conducted from June 2010 to July 2011.The primary goal was to assess the safety of doing the procedures under epidural anesthesia.
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