Dan Tasset - Inspiring Change

LEAWOOD, Kan. (Nov. 10, 2011) – Nueterra Healthcare, a company that creates long-term partnerships with health systems and physician groups to develop innovative strategies to improve the delivery of health care services, today announced the appointment of a new chief development officer, a regional vice president of development and two senior vice presidents of operations.
"While Nueterra has been achieving results well beyond the overall industry, we have some robust growth targets that require us to add more depth to our leadership team," said Nueterra Healthcare CEO David Ayers. "I am excited by the caliber of people we have been able to attract to these key positions."

Eric Gleichman has been named chief development officer of Nueterra Healthcare, a new position for the company. Gleichman received his J.D. degree from Oklahoma City University and most recently served as chief development officer for another large development and management company. He will be relocating to Kansas City to lead Nueterra Healthcare's expanded sales team, which includes long-time Nueterra sales executive Stephanie Tarry moving into a new regional vice president role and the return of Whitney Courser as vice president of Business Development.

Tarry has been with Nueterra for more than 10 years and most recently served as senior vice president of business development. She decided to return to a pure business development role and will be focused on growth strategies with health systems and physicians.
Ayers also announced the appointments of William Comer and Cassandra Speier as senior vice presidents of Operations. Previously Comer was market CEO for an acute-care hospital company in Colorado where he was responsible for three hospitals. He started his career with Sisters of Mercy Health System in St. Louis and Tenet Health in administrator and CEO roles. Comer replaces Tammy Ham, who recently moved to a new position within Nueterra Healthcare International. Speier has nearly 30 years of experience in health care, most of it in senior operations roles in the ambulatory surgery industry. Most recently, she was senior vice president of operations at Novamed, where she was responsible for 20 surgery centers. Speier replaces Marc Goff, who was recently promoted to COO of Nueterra Healthcare.

Nueterra Companies Chairman Dan Tasset said the company's ability to attract so many talented and experienced senior leaders is a reflection of its stature in the industry. "For 15 years, leading health care executives and physicians have turned to Nueterra to help them develop innovative solutions to the industry's ever-changing challenges," Tasset said. "With our expanded leadership team in place, we are laying the foundation for the next 15 years of growth."

About Nueterra Healthcare
Nueterra Healthcare creates long-term partnerships with health systems, hospitals and physicians to develop innovative strategies to improve the delivery of health care services while growing market share. The company is one of the country's leading developers and managers of health system or physician-owned surgical facilities and community hospitals, and now provides international opportunities for its partners through Nueterra Healthcare International's U.S. Tertiary Network.

Wichita – Kansas Governor Sam Brownback signed an executive order today establishing the Governor's Council of Economic Advisors.

"The economic future of Kansas depends on the growth of existing businesses and the development of new industries. Economic competitiveness requires a detailed understanding of regional, national and international economic conditions and trends," Gov. Brownback said. "This Council will operate as a Board of Directors for economic development in Kansas, working closely with me to assure strategy integration, coordination and accountability across all of the state's economic development-related initiatives and agencies."

Governor Brownback will serve as the council's chairman. The Council will have up to 20 members from various industries and business sectors.

"The individuals named to the council today have varied skills and backgrounds in business that will bring a good balance of ideas to the table," said Kansas Commerce Secretary Pat George. "The Administration will rely on their expertise and experience as we move forward to create an environment in which Kansas companies can flourish and create jobs."

The Council will have three main responsibilities:

"In addition to representing the diversity of our state's economy, they also embody the different sizes, scopes and geographic nuances that will lend a new level of guidance and counseling to my administration's efforts to lead our state through these tough economic times and will position us well into the future. I appreciate their willingness to give of their time, energy and knowledge for the betterment of our great state," Brownback said.

Stan Ahlerich will serve as the Council's executive director.

The Council members are:

Patti Bossert
Services sector
Key Staffing, Topeka

Jody Horner
Agriculture sector
Cargill Meat Solutions, Wichita

Gerry O'Shaunghnessy
Oil and Gas sector
Lario Enterprises, Wichita

Ivan Crossland
Manufacturing sector
Crossland Construction, Columbus

Cliff Illig
Healthcare sector
Cerner, Kansas City, MO

Bob Wheeler
Agriculture sector
Hills Pet Nutrition (retired)

Patty Koehler
Manufacturing sector
JR Custom Metals, Wichita

Jim Lewis
Services sector
Lewis Automotive Group, Hays

David Murfin
Finance/Energy sector
Murfin Drilling, Wichita

Larry Sevier
Services sector
Nex-Tech Wireless, Lenora

Dan Tasset
Healthcare sector
Nueterra, Leawood

Bob Page
Healthcare sector
University of Kansas Medical Center

Jan Lyons
Agriculture sector
Nat'l Cattleman's Beef Association
Manhattan

Steve Ortiz
Services sector
Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation
Mayetta

Larry Jones
Agriculture sector
J O Cattle Company
Finney County Commissioner, Holcomb

Jeff Turner
Aviation sector
Spirit AeroSystems, Wichita

Nueterra Companies, an integrated health care, financial, human resources and real estate services firm, today announced the launch of Nueterra Health Alliance, a new physician services company that will provide value-added services to help physicians remain independent and prepare for the impact of health reform. The company will provide services ranging from electronic health record implementation and revenue cycle management to practice operation and clinical integration/ACO consulting to reduce costs and help physicians insulate their practices from continued increases in costs.

"Since our founding in 1997, Nueterra has created innovative partnerships with physicians to help them remain in control of their practices and professional lives," said Nueterra Chairman Dan Tasset. "While health care reform is prompting many physicians to seek employment, I believe the majority of physicians want to remain independent and Nueterra is committed to giving them the tools to do that."

Tasset said that hospital industry veteran Dan Jones will be the CEO of Nueterra Health Alliance. Jones has more than 15 years of experience in senior leadership positions at acute-care hospitals across the country.

"I am excited to join Nueterra and lead the creation of Nueterra Health Alliance at the critical juncture in the evolution of health care in this country," Jones said. "We have an unprecedented opportunity to reshape health care while helping physicians remain independent and in control of their practices."

Goals for Nueterra Health Alliance include helping physicians demonstrate meaningful use technology requirements to obtain federal EHR subsidies, allowing physicians to affiliate with a larger organization while maintaining an independent practice, and positioning independent doctors to be reimbursed under new payment models such as accountable care organizations, and to access new revenue sources that offset their decreases in reimbursement, Jones said.

In addition, the company will offer a wide range of services provided by other Nueterra companies and preferred partners. The other Nueterra companies include:
• Nueterra Healthcare
• Nueterra Physical Therapy
• Nueterra Pathology Services
• Nueterra HR Solutions
• Nueterra Insurance Solutions
• Nueterra Properties Group (formerly Nueterra Real Estate)
• Nueterra Capital Management
• Nueterra International

The company's preferred partners provide IT and revenue management services that will help physicians make the transition to electronic medical records and migrate billing offices to the new revenue structures that will come with the creation of ACOs, Jones said.

David Ayers, CEO of Nueterra Healthcare, which is one of the country's leading developers and managers of physician-owned surgical facilities, said the company would work with Nueterra Health Alliance to help existing surgical facilities develop new growth strategies and remain profitable.

"For many years our physicians have been asking Nueterra Healthcare to expand its offerings and help them streamline their practice management responsibilities," Ayers said. "Working with Nueterra Health Alliance, we will be able to offer physician partners many new services that will increase the time they have to spend with their patients."

John Schario, president of Operations for Nueterra Companies, said these services will be in increasing demand because of the quality, efficiency and bundling initiatives included in the health care reform bill. "We look forward to helping physicians come together to create the organizational structures that will be needed to meet these reform requirements," Schario said.

More information about Nueterra is available at www.nueterra.com.

Nueterra Cos., a diversified health care, real estate and financial services firm based just outside Kansas City, Kan., yesterday announced the launch of a professional employer organization, Nueterra HR Solutions, and an insurance company, Nueterra Insurance Solutions. Both companies will be based in Jenks.

The new companies will expand the services Nueterra can provide to physicians, surgery centers, health systems and other health care organizations, as well as companies in other industries.

Dan Tasset, chairman of Nueterra Cos., said the new companies are key elements of Nueterra's growth strategy.
"Despite the recent passage of health care reform legislation, Nueterra remains optimistic and enthusiastic about its ability to develop innovative solutions for the health care industry and to begin offering our services to other industries," Tasset said.

Jerry Wilkins, CEO of both Nueterra HR Solutions and Nueterra Insurance Solutions, said, "We're really excited to be a part of this new venture. We have assembled an experienced team of professionals to help companies and other professionals meet their human resource and insurance needs while growing their businesses and saving money."

Nueterra currently owns and manages more than 90 surgical and outpatient facilities in 28 states across the U.S.

A special benefit concert with the One5 Foundation and singer Matt Gary will get underway Thursday night at the Boulevard Brewery in Kansas City, Mo. Proceeds will help a metro organization hoping to reduce the mortality rate in developing countries. The chairman, Dan Tasset and singer Matt Gary explain more.

Gary is a talented Nashville-based performer whose deep Kansas City roots lay the foundation for his nostalgic radio single "The Days You Live For" which has captured the attention of Music Row executives, radio and media. and country fans alike. The Country Music Association (CMA) named Gary as a "Who's New To Watch" artist for 2009 while critic Robert K. Oermann (Music Row Magazine) lauded Gary with his DISCovery Award.

Kansas City's One5 Foundation, along with their partners, believe in providing optimal, as well as comprehensive care for orphans and vulnerable children who are disproportionately affected by poverty and insidious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and TB. Working with One5's partners in addition to providing medical treatment they specialize in designing programs that focus on prevention and education.

Kansas City Business Journal - by Mike Sherry Staff Writer

A local company that partners with doctors to build surgical centers and other health care facilities is branching out philanthropically to the Third World.

Leawood-based Nueterra Healthcare LLC is investing in startups in Haiti and several African countries.

The vehicle is a new venture capital fund called the C3/NCM Global Growth Fund, which is starting out with more than $100,000 contributed by about 10 area investors, said Dan Tasset, founder and chairman of Nueterra Healthcare.

Investors have committed as much as $10 million total if the fund has initial success, he said. Investment profits will be reinvested in the fund.

“I’d be surprised if we don’t have $50 million to $100 million invested in these developing countries in five years,” Tasset said. “We have so much interest in the investment base.”

The fund already has invested in a Haitian company that transports volunteers who come to help the nation’s poor residents. Tasset said the fund also may help expand a water-bottling business in Uganda.

Three organizations joined forces to start the fund:

The new fund will build on previous collaborations between the Integral Life Foundation and C3 Missions International.

An official with Heart to Heart International Inc., an Olathe-based charity that focuses on improving health around the world, applauded the new venture’s efforts to facilitate volunteerism in poor countries.

“Anything that encourages people to get off the sidelines of life and into the game,” Heart to Heart spokesman Pete Brumbaugh said, “we’re in favor of that.”

(LEAWOOD, KS) – Three Kansas City-area organizations – Nueterra Capital Management, Integral Life Foundation and C3 Missions International – have joined forces to create an innovative philanthropic venture capital fund.

Called the C3/NCM Global Growth Fund, this unique fund is a for-profit entity with a twist: rather than taking profits from their investment, the founding investors have committed to reinvest all profits to increase the Fund’s impact, which is focused on sustainably advancing orphan care on a global basis through economic development.

“The Global Growth Fund is definitely a very different kind of venture capital fund,” said Dan Tasset, senior partner at Nueterra Capital Management, which is managing the Fund. “The Fund is focused on empowering people in developing countries by providing them with seed capital to start businesses that will allow families and communities to become self sustaining. This could be things like farms, fisheries or mills.”

The founding members of the Fund all have personal commitments to helping orphans in developing countries. Tasset, through the Integral Life Foundation, works to bring health care services to orphans with HIV/AIDs. Integral Life Foundation currently works with C3 Missions and other organizations to help orphans in Haiti and Africa. Mike Fox, who co-founded C3 with his wife, Beth, has created the Global Orphan Project, which is a viral coalition of the many joining together to tackle the global orphan pandemic one village at a time.

“This is truly an innovative, collaborative effort and one that welcomes anyone who shares our passion and commitment to helping those who are most in need,” Fox said.

(GREAT BEND, KS) – Great Bend Regional Hospital, the newest hospital in Kansas, opened today to provide residents in the central part of the state with exciting new options for obtaining healthcare services. The hospital was developed through an expansion of the former Surgical and Diagnostic Center of Great Bend.

The new hospital features 33 beds, private labor and delivery rooms, dedicated pediatric facilities and an emergency room that will be open 24/7 to serve the community. The facility includes 17 private patient rooms, four private labor and delivery suites, four private post-partum rooms, four dedicated pediatric beds and four ICU beds. It was developed as a joint venture between area physicians and Nueterra Healthcare.

“Providing a state-of-the-art hospital for residents of central Kansas has been a dream of mine ever since we opened the Diagnostic Center in 2001,” said Dr. Roger Marshall, chairman of the hospital’s Board of Managers. “As an OB/GYN, I am especially excited to be able to provide expectant mothers and their newborns with a new level of care in our private birthing suites, Level II nursery and dedicated pediatric beds.”

The hospital will also provide patients with the convenience of being able to get all of their healthcare needs in one location through its full-service laboratory and imaging services.

Dan Tasset, chairman of Nueterra Healthcare, said the fact that company’s first acute-care hospital is opening in Great Bend has special significance. “We founded Nueterra in Dodge City, Kan., less than 100 miles from Great Bend, with the goal of increasing access to the quality, efficient healthcare services,” Tasset said. “To be able to bring the level of care that this hospital will offer to residents of central Kansas is very gratifying.”

Great Bend Regional Hospital is located at 514 Cleveland St. More information about the hospital is available at www.greatbendregionalhospital.com.

About Nueterra Healthcare Since 1997, Nueterra Healthcare has provided development and management services for hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, healthcare campuses, physical therapy centers and medical real estate. Nueterra currently owns and manages more than 90 surgical and outpatient facilities in 27 states. More information about Nueterra Healthcare is available at www.nueterrahealthcare.com.

© 2009 Great Bend Tribune

“Nueterra Healthcare is excited to be partnering once again with Methodist Health System, and with the outstanding physicians who are part of this project, to bring innovative healthcare options to the Metroplex,” Tasset said. “For more than a decade Nueterra has worked with health systems and physicians to develop more efficient, affordable, quality healthcare solutions, including surgical hospitals, and the Methodist Hospital for Special Surgery is a great example of this.”

Nueterra’s first project with Methodist Health System is the new Methodist McKinney Hospital, which is scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2010. That project celebrated its topping out last month.

The Methodist Hospital for Special Surgery will focus on treating patients in need of highly specialized spine and joint surgery appropriate for its mix of medical specialties and services, and will be the only dedicated orthopedics hospital of its kind in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Phase I of the hospital will be a 105,000 sq. ft. hospital with seven fully equipped operating rooms, 32 private patient rooms, 10 outpatient treatment rooms, a diagnostic imaging suite (including CT and MRI), and physical therapy and rehabilitation.

“When the Methodist Hospital for Special Surgery opens next year patients will be able to receive leading-edge treatment and care in a hospital designed with the patient in mind,” Tasset said. “I am excited about the unique environment this facility will offer to patients from throughout North Texas and the specialized care that physicians will be able to provide at this hospital.”
The $38 million Methodist McKinney hospital will be a two-story, 60,000 sq. ft. specialty hospital with six operating room suites, two procedure rooms, a 15-bed inpatient nursing unit, emergency room services, and comprehensive diagnostic imaging unit, including CT and MRI services

Since 1997, Nueterra Healthcare has provided development and management services for surgical and community hospitals, healthcare campuses, single and multi-specialty ambulatory surgery centers, physical therapy centers, and medical real estate. Nueterra currently owns and manages more than 90 surgical and outpatient facilities in 27 states across the U.S.

Nueterra Healthcare LLC has gone from zero to three in 18 months.

If that doesn’t sound like much, consider that growth represents the number of multimillion-dollar deals the Leawood-based company has put together through its new Community Hospital Division.

“That is pretty aggressive,” division President Mike McCoy said. “We are pretty proud of that — and there are more to come.”

Nueterra expects the division to account for about a third of the company’s revenue within the next three years. The company does not disclose revenue.

Great Bend Regional Hospital, an expansion of an earlier Nueterra project in Great Bend, Kan., is expected to open next month. Two hospitals the company is developing for Methodist Health System in suburban Dallas are expected to open in 2010. And McCoy said Nueterra also has other projects in the pipeline.

The company traces its roots to an initial outpatient surgery facility in Dodge City in 1989. It relocated to the Kansas City area in 1998, a year after the formation of Nueterra Healthcare.

Nueterra’s core business has been the development, construction and management of ambulatory surgical centers and surgical hospitals, with physician investors as partners. Typical services at the surgical centers include hip and knee replacements, general surgery procedures, such as appendectomies, along with gynecology and ear-nose-and-throat services.

McCoy said it was a logical progression for the company to expand into the hospital market.

Methodist Health System’s $38 million hospital in McKinney, Texas, will serve as the general hospital in a master-planned community, said Michael Arvin, senior vice president and chief development officer of the system.

Arvin said the $60 million Methodist Hospital for Special Surgery in Addison will provide highly specialized spine and joint surgery. A groundbreaking for the hospital was scheduled for June 3.

Methodist is a decades-old nonprofit health system with full-service acute-care hospitals and a network of community clinics, Arvin said. Nueterra’s expertise in smaller, targeted facilities is helping the system expand into the rapidly growing bedroom communities north of Dallas.

Methodist has been “absolutely thrilled” with its partnership with Nueterra, Arvin said.

Dr. Ted Epperly, however, is not enamored with the business model of Nueterra’s hospitals or other facilities.

Physician investment can create a conflict of interest because these doctors might have a financial incentive to refer patients for services, said Epperly, president of the Leawood-based American Academy of Family Physicians.

Similarly, he said, these doctors could refer well-off patients to their facility while the remainder go to the established local hospital. This lost revenue can hinder those hospitals’ abilities to provide needed services, such as mental health care and social work, Epperly said.

“As family doctors,” he said, “we get concerned when we see a model like this because of what it means to other aspects of health care that need to go on.”

McCoy said Nueterra simply builds facilities where a community or physicians express a need for more services.

In Methodist Health System’s case, Arvin said, expansion into the suburbs will generate revenue for continued service within its established service area in south Dallas, which is not as affluent.

Plus, he said, physician ownership gives the doctors more say in the delivery of care.

(LEAWOOD, KS) Dan Tasset and Brad Gautney recently returned from Uganda, Malawi and Kenya where they met with both new and existing partners in their work with orphans and vulnerable children and pediatric HIV/AIDS. In Malawi, they met with the directors of Pothawira Christian Missions, Dr. Anne Alaniz and Dr. Peter Maseko, to discuss the future birthing center and pediatric hospital ILF, Pothawira and St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City will be collaborating on. The hospital will be located in Salima, Malawi where it will be the primary medical care for the children’s homes and communities located in Salima. The hospital floor-plans and model were just revised based upon these meetings and construction is set to begin this summer. In Kenya, they met with Dr. Samoel Khamadi, Head of HIV/AIDS Research Laboratories, at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) in Nairobi to discuss their current and future work in pediatric HIV/AIDS together. ILF continues to collaborate with KEMRI in their pediatric HIV work in Haiti, and looks forward to future work together in Kenya. ILF met with new organizations in Uganda to discuss possible programs to improve existing medical systems for new orphanages being built by ILF partners in northern and southern regions of Uganda.

(LEAWOOD, KS) Dan Tasset is an entrepreneur who believes in giving back in a big way that goes beyond just simply writing a check. He believes that building leaders for tomorrow’s successful communities will help end extreme poverty. And he has a plan to make that happen. Dan Tasset, founder of Nueterra Holdings, has established the Integral Life Foundation (ILF) to lift up people living in poverty so they can succeed educationally, occupationally, relationally, financially and spiritually. In turn, they will become leaders and enrich their communities and countries.

Growing from Tasset’s vision, ILF is working to become a leader in building successful communities throughout the world, beginning with those in the most poverty stricken areas. Tasset and ILF believe that by using an integral approach to understanding the cause of extreme poverty in specific communities and countries, followed by an integral approach to a differential diagnosis and subsequent development strategy, that a country can make significant positive changes in a single generation.

“We have developed an "integrated" or "holistic" approach to our work,” said Tasset. “This strategy takes into account all aspects that are essential to any successful community— basic needs such as food, shelter and clothing, environment and infrastructure, education, health care, business enterprise and economic development. By providing individuals with the opportunity and means to develop their own skills and abilities, we strengthen the institutions and services that empower and sustain the entire community.”

“In everything we do, we see the individual as part of the social/cultural matrix. The integral vision honors every stage of development and every aspect that contributes to that development. Our assessments and our interventions rest on the conviction that seeds of upward growth are inherent in both individual and groups,” added Tasset.

The first major project for ILF has been to partner with C3 Missions International in providing medical care to orphans in Haiti. ILF has made three trips to Haiti since July to set up medical clinics and deliver primary and surgical care to Haitian orphans and vulnerable children including relief efforts following Hurricane Hanna and Ike which devastated the area last month. A similar medical assistance project is being planned for orphans in Africa.

Tasset and ILF hope to partner with other organizations to expand this assistance in Haiti to include better food and housing programs, education programs, micro-enterprise and economic development, leadership and mentoring programs.