Health-care business seeps into Valley

While local politicians look to boost the economy with amenities such as ice rinks, ski lifts, and convention facilities, the health-care industry keeps adding well-paying high-tech jobs to the Valley simply because investors believe the market is ready for them.

The Alaska Department of Labor recently released compiled figures that showed employment trends through the 1990s. Statewide, the number of jobs in health services rose from 10,475 in 1990 to 15,733 in 1999. The number of jobs in hotels and lodging rose from 5,488 to 6,582 during the same decade.

In the Mat-Su census area, 1,019 people worked in health services at the end of the decade.

The trend also manifests itself in the Valley with new business ventures, one of which is Alaska Open Imaging Center (AOIC), which plans to open in Wasilla soon. Last week, workers began installing a Toshiba Open MRI machine at AOIC's leased space inside the Bogard Professional Plaza, just off Bogard Road. The machine uses a 13-ton electromagnet to produce images and its owners say it is just one of the six-figure hardware investments the new company will be bringing to Wasilla.

An MRI machine can cost anywhere between $750,000 and 2 million dollars, said Dr. Robert Bridges, a partner in the venture. Bridges is a diagnostic radiologist and nuclear medicine physician who currently practices in Riverside, Calif., but will be moving to Wasilla soon.

"Let's just say that we got a good deal, but it's still in the high six figures," Bridges said.

The growth in health services is also touching off legal skirmishes.

Jeff Kinion is the CEO and one of principal owners of AOIC. Kinion, a former employee of Valley Hospital Association (VHA), last year filed a lawsuit against the hospital and three of its administrators for wrongful termination.

Valley Hospital's lawyer, in Palmer Superior Court filings, argued Kinion's employment was terminated because he violated conflict-of-interest rules by opening a bone densitometer clinic in Wasilla. The hospital said his clinic was a competitor, and claims Kinion breached his contract by opening Wasilla Bone Density Clinic while still a hospital employee.

Kinion's attorney, in court filings, contended the hospital had dropped plans for putting in its own bone densitometer clinic and did not have money or space allocated for such a clinic -- therefore, since the hospital was not offering bone densitometer services and was not expected to offer those services in the future, Kinion could not be viewed as a competitor.

A Sept. 3, 2002 jury trial date has been set in the case.

Valley Hospital is currently the only local facility that competes with Kinion and his partners in providing MRI and bone densitometer services.

Kinion said Wasilla Bone Density Clinic and Alaska Open Imaging were separate companies. The two will be co-located when work is completed at the new building. Wasilla Bone Density will become a tenant of AIOC.

Bridges steered conversation toward the new technology coming to the Valley, and the good things medical professionals can make of it.

"[Kinion's lawsuit] is a distinctly separate issue. It can muddle things, but it's not part of AOIC," Bridges said. "No one is looking for a knockout punch here. There's going to be a situation where everybody's looking for synergism."

In other words, if local physicians and patients have two MRI machines to choose from, and two bone density clinics to choose from, it's all for the best.

Bridges said the market is growing fast enough to accommodate AOIC's ambitious plans. Bridges' expertise is an important part of those plans. He is board-certified in both radiology and nuclear medicine, and Kinion said Bridges is on the cutting edge of the much-touted telemedicine revolution.

Bridges was born and raised in Alaska, and went to medical school with financial help from the state of Alaska. He said the AOIC venture is giving him a chance to move back.

"AOIC is basically a critical mass merging of people in Alaska. We're bringing Alaskan talent together," Bridges said.

Some of Bridges' work, once he moves to the Valley, will be for Riverside Radiology, the California practice in which he is still involved. And Riverside will be working for patients in the Valley as well.

Kinion and Bridges both said the partnership with Riverside Radiology and its Web servers will enable doctors and patients in Wasilla to consult with experts from around the world. Bridges said he has been using Web-based conferences and image while working with Riverside since 1991.

"But remember, that's a lifetime ago in terms of these technologies," he said.

Bridges emphasized that the technology being installed in Wasilla is new, and requires not only the right mix of imaging equipment and computer power, but talent as well.

Whatever legal wrangling or other business-side shakeups take place, AOIC's imaging and telemedicine capabilities will be parceled out to medical professionals in an egalitarian fashion, Bridges said.

"We offer this as a resource to any radiologist in the state," he said.

Valley Hospital spokesperson Elizabeth Ripley wouldn't discuss Kinion's lawsuit, but did entertain questions about competition in the Valley, and VHA's medical imaging capabilities.

"There's a perception out there that we're not keeping up with the technology, and that's just not true." Ripley said.

VHA recently added an imaging center to its Valley Hospital Medical Center in Wasilla. The imaging center includes X-rays, MRI, fluoroscope, ultrasound and a bone densitometer.

Kinion didn't say which of these technologies besides the MRI and bone densitometer would be located just down the street at AOIC. He did say AOIC planned to be a full-service imaging center.

"To do that, you have to provide all the different modalities. You have to provide all the different services to the consumer," Kinion said.

Valley Hospital is about to market its bone densitometer at an upcoming health fair for women. Ripley said health-care providers besides VHA will be there. That's typical of the fairs sponsored by VHA and run by Ripley. She said there are still vendor spaces available, but not for Kinion.

"There's two reasons for that. Number one, he's for profit, and number two, he's our competitor," Ripley said.