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In a case that could have national consequences for healthcare providers, Evanston Northwestern Healthcare dodged a bullet on Thursday as the Federal Trade Commission ruled that ENH violated trust laws but would not have to sell its Highland Park Hospital.
The unanimous 5 to 0 decision by the FTC found ENH broke the anti-trust Clayton Act when it acquired Highland Park Hospital in January 2000 and raised cost-of-care rates. Yet the ruling overturned a 2005 order for ENH to divest the Highland Park Hospital. The FTC compromised the previous ruling by requiring ENH to establish "separate and independent negotiating teams" to "re-inject competition" between the hospitals-essentially making the hospitals compete independently for business.
ENH, which also owns Evanston Hospital and Glenview Hospital, said in a press release that it was "thrilled" by the FTC's decision. ENH contended during testimony that its price hikes were necessary because Highland Park Hospital had been underselling for years. Also, the merger improved quality of care at Highland Park resulting in higher demand for the hospital's services.
But the FTC disagreed. In her opinion in the ruling, Deborah Platt Majoras, FTC chairman for this case, said, "[t]here is no dispute that ENH substantially raised its prices shortly after the merging parties consummated the transaction." The merger allowed ENH to leverage unfairly higher rates from insurance companies," she said.
Together, the three hospitals form a triangle in the North Shore serving Evanston, Glencoe, Wilmette, Winnetka, Kenilworth, Highland Park and Lake Forest. There are nine other nearby hospitals but none in the ENH triangle. Combined, the three hospitals have approximately 700 beds and offer primary and secondary care.
The FTC's decision carries weight nationally because as hospitals merge, this case will be viewed as precedent.
"It remains to be seen whether federal court embraces what the FTC ruled," said Chul Pak, an attorney with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati in New York, who argued for a full divestiture on behalf of the FTC. He said the FTC ruled against divestiture partly because the hospitals have been together for seven years and because hospitals provide an essential role in the community.
"Time will tell," Pak said of the ruling's effectiveness. "It was not the optimal outcome, but the remedy helps level the bargaining field so insurers can get lower prices. It was certainly the intent [of the FTC] to lower costs."
ENH has 30 days to provide the FTC with a plan to describe how Highland Park Hospital will act independently or appeal the ruling. ENH said no decision has been made about an appeal.
The complaint council's economist, Deborah Haas-Wilson, used data that included all Illinois patients from 1998 through 2002 and found that ENH increased its per day average net prices by 48 percent for all patients. And the FTC also found ENH and Highland Park were well aware of their new bargaining power. The FTC cited in its opinion a report written by Highland Park Hospital President and CEO, Ronald Spaeth, who wrote in 1999 before the merger, "it would be real tough for any of the Fortune 40 companies in this area whose CEOs either use this place [Highland Park] or that place [Evanston and Glenbrook] to walk from Evanston, Highland Park or Glenbrook [hospitals] and 1700 of their doctors."
The initial complaint was issued by the FTC in February 2004 and alleged that following the acquisition, ENH was able to raise its prices charged to health insurers far above price increases of other hospitals as a result of the transaction.
In October 2005, Chief Administrative Law Judge Stephen J. McGuire issued an initial decision and order, ruling in favor of the FTC, and ordering ENH to sell Highland Park within 180 days. According to McGuire's decision, ENH's acquisition of Highland Park resulted in "substantially lessened competition" and higher prices for insurers and healthcare consumers.
David J.P. Fisher is in your business, literally, and he wants to make you a rock star.
As founder of the Evanston-based company, RockStar Consulting, Fisher works to kick-start a client's professional career. People come to him looking for ways to be more successful at their jobs, and Fisher counsels them in ways that therapy and self-help books cannot.
"The definition of insanity," Fisher said, "is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting something different to happen. I act as support and hold [clients] accountable. They bounce ideas off me as they would go to a priest or bartender in the past. Now people go to a coach for support."
The Chicago area is teeming with these "business coaches" who offer training in anything from personal fitness to dissertation practice for doctoral candidates. It is a business that is hard to quantify but profits off the simple happiness, and increased productivity, of its clientele.
Fisher started RockStar Consulting in 2005 with the idea of giving people "their rock star moment."
"The fun of being on stage is just 5 percent of the job," Fisher said. "I help with the other 95 percent."
RockStar consulting offers one-on-one coaching, "tele-coaching" conference-call coaching and seminars for businesses. Fisher said he has about seven to 10 individual clients at any time and generates most of his business by referrals and word of mouth.
But Fisher faces tough competition for clients as he competes with other coaches. The professional coaching field has boomed in recent years and is close to becoming a $1.5 billion industry worldwide. The International Coaching Federation was founded in 1995 and between 1999 and 2006, the number of members in North America surged up 81 percent. Chicago's own chapter, the Chicago Coaching Federation, has about 350 members with a 700-member mailing list.
"People are more interested in their quality of life," said Faith Curtis, President of CCF and her own coaching business, Personal Power Coaching. "They're trying to reach a goal but can't on their own and their old ways have not worked."
Fisher, 30, found his entrepreneurial spirit selling Cutco Cutlery during his junior year of college at Northwestern University. Cutco Cutlery, most famous for its brand of knives, does not sell its products in stores, but through the hands of young salespeople-mostly legions of high school and college students. Fisher became a rock star in his own right with Cutco. He said he earned about $250,000 selling Cutco, to become one of the company's top-10 sellers in the country. He went on to manage the Chicago office for Cutco. At 22, he was "running the show." He organized the office, paid the bills and trained as many as 110 new sellers at a time.
"It taught me how to run a business," Fisher said. "I got experience at 22 that most people don't get until much later in their career."
Being in charge and handling all the struggles and stress that accompany being an entrepreneur made him comfortable running a business, he said. It also gave him experience training people in sales.
"Many people out of college get thrown into sales right out of college," he said. "As the economy becomes more of a service economy, sales becomes more important as a market base. And too many people see 'sales' as a four-letter word."
Fisher described how he helped one client who worked in real estate and was afraid of making cold calls. He met Fisher through an Evanston Chamber of Commerce event and the two developed a program to make cold calls less often.
"We worked to develop partnerships," said Fisher. The networking helped his client search for customers without resorting to strangers. In spite of the recent housing slump, Fisher said his client just had his most successful month ever.
Fisher's clients split evenly among men and women, he said, and range in ages from 23 to their 60s. Fisher could not say how much he charges clients because it varies, but other coaches charge from $350 to $650 a month. Fisher said he wants his services to be a struggle for clients and a stretch financially.
"If they're getting it cheap," he said, "they won't take it seriously."
Therapy, Fisher insists, is not part of the contract. He does extend beyond the scope of business to take a "whole person" approach, incorporating business with personal life. But he does not dwell on the past.
"If kids picked on you in school, great," he said. "Now where do we go from here?"
Fisher is working with two interns from DePaul University to market RockStar. He is publicizing an e-book coming out in August called "The Book of Habits" and he is developing a MySpace page. But business for Fisher grows best when his clients come back happy.
"Talking to clients six months down the line," Fisher said, "when they come back and remember what they learned, that's the best."
Kiss your skinny jeans goodbye: the wide-leg pant is back en vogue. Flouncy, shapeless Mod tops are also on the way out, as sleekier, classical looks of the early 20th century invade design studios and stores this fall. For a hefty price, you can make appointments with the owners and stylists of some local Chicago boutiques, or read on for a quick (but free!) shopping guide.
From The Purple, the chunky and the wide-leg: Fall styles hit Chicago boutiques by Allison Roeser
Photo: "A mannequin greets visitors at Jake, in Lakeview, and showcases the out-going skinny leg jeans with the upcoming classic style of a heavy neutral tunic with a romantic, early 20th-century scarf bow."
Allison Roeser/Medill News ServiceÂ
The Illinois Technology Cooperative's Jim Craner provides tech support for non-profits from the comfort of his home.
Illinois native Jim Craner founded the Chicago Technology Cooperative to help nonprofits everywhere achieve their technology goals. Now in its third year, the Chicago-based business continues to grow by tapping into the unconventional nonprofit market....
-Read more from "Cooperative squeezes out a profit by marrying high-tech, non-profits" by Caroline Yu
Photo: Caroline Yu/Medill News Service
Power shop your way through some 10 Chicago neighborhood boutiques in three hours-or just read about it. Julie Cameron, founder and president of the newly formed Urban Shop Guide, takes shoppers off-the-beaten-path to some of her favorite local boutiques on her Neighborhood All-Stars tour.
from Power shoppers tour posh boutiques by Kelli Conkey
Photo: "Inside Koros on West Lake Street." Allison Roeser/Medill News Service
Photo: Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan/Medill News Service
"Pete Probst's 1979 300TD Mercedes runs on straight vegetable oil. Probst, one of the founders of the Chicago Biofuels co-op, collects waste vegetable oil in black buckets and sells it, filtered, to members for $1.50 a gallon.
Looking for a bold way to fight climate change? Give up on gas and top off with grease instead. Chicago's latest "greasers" are powering their motors with straight vegetable oil, slashing greenhouse gas emissions, saving money and filling the air with the delectable scent of French fries in the process."
Fill it up with veggie oil? Advocates say it fights global warming and gas prices by Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan
Photo: Jing Zhou/Medill News Service
"Members of regional EPAs and Business Councils for Sustainable Development discuss development initiatives Tuesday at the Chicago Cultural Center during the oraganization's annual meeting."
"By proving one manufacturer's waste can be another's raw material, 80 Chicago-based firms are providing a model for sustainable development projects nationally and globally, beginning with China. The U.S. Business Council for Sustainable Development and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency agreed Tuesday to collaborate on such projects."
Ever watched The Simpsons and wondered what "KrustyO's" tasted like?
Now there's a way to find out.
Last weekend 7-Eleven Inc. transformed one of its stores on Chicago's southwest side into an honest-to-goodness, Simpsons'-style Kwik-E-Mart to promote the long-awaited Simpsons movie. The store is one of 12 in the country that received a cartoon makeover and one of 6,000 to be offering fictional treats featured on the show like Frosted KrustyO's and Buzz Cola.
As the only Kwik-E-Mart location in the Midwest, the 63rd Street 7-Eleven, owned by "huge Simpsons fan" Frenko Rahana, has, overnight, become a tourist attraction.
"It's been unbelievable," he says. "People are just so shocked that they actually get to shop where Homer shops." Hear it!
While there was much coolness "going down" at the Chicago Kwik-E-Mart, there are five reasons to visit the Chicago Kwik-E-Mart:
Strange Things are Afoot at the Circle K.
A trip to the Chicago Kwik-E-Mart will likely be your weirdest convenience store experience ever.
For starters, there's a line to get in. Tuesday night, hundreds of Simpsons fans and curious locals were waiting 50-deep for a dour-looking private security guard (sporting a Superman pager) to let them enter.
And they were a motley crew indeed. A quick scan of the crowd turned up a 50-year-old man in a Duff Beer hat standing near a high schooler showing off his Simpsons boxer shorts. Both groaned when the guard announced that the Squishee machine was out of commission around 10 P.M.
There's serious was money rolling around the Kwik-E-Mart, too. In the parking lot, a rusted Chevy Maxima was sandwiched between a BMW Z3 with New Mexico plates and a Volvo S60. Land Rovers and Lexus SUV's were common sights, too, dropping people off to wait in line before disappearing to find parking.
Rahana says he's thrilled by the response to his store's makeover.
"This has never been done before," he says. "You have Coke and Pepsi putting their products in movies. We're actually taking a product out of a movie and putting it into real life." Hear it!
The walls, windows and appliances in the Chicago Kwik-E-Mart are chock-full of hilarious nods to The Simpsons. Rahana admitted he wishes 7-Eleven had done a little more to the front of his store, but said he was extremely happy with how it looked in general.
If you spot a reference I miss, fill us in with a comment below. Here are some of my favorites. Also, there are dozens more pictueres in the Kwik-E-Mart Photo Gallery.
Bart Simpson and Milhouse are hitting a pair of Squishees pretty hard out front.
According to owner Rahana, 7-Eleven Inc. sent over a construction crew just before midnight Saturday June 30 to make over his store.
The Kwik-E-Mart marquee appears to be a simple wrapper laid over the 7-Eleven sign. It looks great during the day and really interesting when its lit up at night.
The banner over the freezer is one of the few direct, in-store plugs for the Simpsons movie.
In the foreground you can see just some of the Simpsons collectibles on sale in the store. Rahana had an entire aisle decked out with toys like the "Moe's Tavern with Duff Man Toy Set " priced at $49.99.
This coffee sign calls it like it is. And the other is a reference to the sea captain who owns the all-you-can-eat restaurant that sued Homer in one episode, right? Simpsons fans, set me straight.
Lesson: Don't keep your money in Springfield. And is the blurb in the lower right a jab at ATM's? What's the backstory here? This sign is plastered to the Kwik-E-Mart facade out front.
'Nuf said. I never noticed the thing with Chief Wiggum's nose until a friend pointed it out to me years ago...
Of course a huge draw for these Kwik-E-Marts is the fictional Simpsons food items on sale inside. 7-Eleven Inc. did a smash-up job producing these.
Buzz Cola! 79¢I asked a 12-year-old what this stuff tasted like (as he was sucking one down): "It's just like Pepsi, but with more zap!"
Alas, Duff Beer, Home Simpson's favorite beer won't be found at any participating 7-Elevens. The company did not wish to involve beer in the marketing of a PG-13 film, according to 7-Eleven Inc.
Squishees - .99¢-$1.69The store's Slurpee machine has been decked out with new signage and new "Squishee" cups. There was a 5-minute wait to get one for much of the night while I was there. The picture to the right is of a squishee that someone apparently forgot about. It sat melting by the coffee dispenser all evening...
Frosted KrustyO's - $5.99: The clown says they're good for youThese are clearly the hot item. All night long the same pattern played out. The security guard would let a handful of people in...and they'd make a beeline right for the Frosted KrustyO's, childlike glee affixed on their faces.
The side of the box features a "Nutrition Guarantee" from good 'ole Krusty the Clown himself, who declares "I guarantee I was paid to say this stuf is nutritious!"
The front-of-box blub calls the cereal "The Best You Can Expect From a TV Clown!" Krusty's shown holding a bowl that includes a worm, a nail, a gear, a screw, some weeds and a brown gelatinous substance that looks fairly horrid. The fine print below it helpfully says "Product shown is not representative of the actual product inside."
Rahana's "Kwik-E-mart" is doing alright selling this stuff (remember it's the only themed 7-Eleven store in the entire Midwest). Kwik-E-Mart customers like their Simpsons goodies. I kept track of everything purchased Tuesday night between 8:40 and 9:00 P.M to get an idea. Rahana sold:
...totalling $304.28 in "fictional" food receipts in 20 minutes. This wasn't even a particularly busy period during the night. If you do that math, that's more than $21,000 per day just from these three items, not even counting money made from Simpsons cookies, bobbleheads and collectibles as well as regular, non-Simpsons-related merchandise.
Rahana says he sold 200 boxes of Frosted KrustyO's in the first 90 minutes they were on sale Sunday morning. He placed an emergency call to, McClane Distribution, his distributor and 700 more arrived the next day. He says he's not at all surprised by the demand.
"The Simpsons has a cult following. It's like Star Wars but even bigger," he says. "You've got people from everywhere dying to get their hands on Simpsons merchandise and what better place to get it than the Kwik-E-Mart!" Hear it!
(Hey comics fans: "Radioactive Man" comics had sold out early that afternoon, much to the disappointment of more than one customer. Rahana was quick to offer issues of a Bart Simpson comic instead but found few takers.)
The picture below was far and away the most imaginitive touch in the Chicago Kwik-E-Mart. Hats off to whoever pushed this one through.
Tremendous explanation via Wikipedia:
When retiree Jasper Beardley decided to freeze himself in the store's freezers as a low budget form of cryopreservation for an indefinite future, Apu transformed the store into the "Freak-E-Mart", of which Jasper, marketed as "Frostillicus", was the main attraction. When Jasper thawed, thus ending the viability of the project, Apu decided to institute a clothing optional policy, thusly briefly rechristening the store as the "Nude-E-Mart".
Rahana said he had yet to meet a customer who could correctly identify "the guy in the freezer." So if you drop by, let him know who it is. He might give you a free Squishee.
Finally, the Chicago Kwik-E-Mart boasts its own real-life "Apu" in Frenko Rahana, who says his store was chosen as the Chicago Kwik-E-Mart site only after "constant begging."
Clad in a green Kwik-E-Mart button-up, wearing an "Apu" nametag, he hustles around the store restocking shelves, trying to upsell customers into adding just one more thing to their baskets, ringing up customers and sending them on their way with an honest-to-goodness Apu-style "Thank you, come again."
Rahana, who says he's been with 7-Eleven for nine years, says he draws inspiration from the Apu character, with whom he feels a connection as a fellow immigrant with big ambitions.
"I totally respect what he's able to do in the show," he says. "When I bought my franchise I thought of myself as Apu. I'm doing the same thing. I'm from overseas. I'm doing exactly what he's doing, trying to make a life for myself in America." Hear it!
Rahana (ringing up a customer above with Michelle Smith, notice the Apu sign behind him) says his goal is to make every other Simpsons fan feel like he did when he first heard about the promotion from a 7-Eleven partner:
"I'm a true diehard Simpsons fan, and when I heard they were going to do this, I was so geeked up," he says.
"It's a once in a lifetime experience. I don't know if 7-Eleven will ever do this again and if they do, great. And if they don't, well at least you can say you shopped at a Kwik-E-Mart."
The Chicago Kwik-E-Mart is located at 6754 W. 63rd Street, Chicago, IL 60638. They are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Kwik-E-Mart promotion will run through the end of July. Google Maps Link.
Phil Kaplan recently profiled a Wesley Willis-esque Chicago rapper named Sharkula. It's worth checking out:
"Sharkula eats, breathes, and lives hip hop. And he's been doing it in Chicago since 1992. He is to most people, 'that guy who sells discs on the trains."
Sharkula is a semi-homeless rapper, a sort of music vigilante. Despite his apparently marginal lifestyle, his music has connected with some hip hop fans and his most recent record, "Diagnosis of Sharkula," is well-produced and being carried by Reckless Records, among other places."
With just one word, Master Fitzgerald has their attention.
"Beginners."
His students stand, remove their shoes and socks, and step lightly onto the training room's red and blue rubber floor. A young girl gives her mother a quick look before following.
Master Fitzgerald carefully places his seven students in two rows, each an arm's length from one another. He positions himself in front of them and turns away. Starting with the master, one by one they sit and, together, they meditate.
Moments later they will stand and begin learning the footwork, blocking techniques and punches that comprise the master's self-defense training. They will grunt. They will shuffle their feet. They will be corrected by the master. They are learning Tang Soo Do.
But right now they sit still, and this, according to Joseph Fitzgerald, is an equally important part of the free beginning martial arts lessons he offers at Fitzgerald Martial Arts in Hyde Park.
"Most people never take a moment to be in silence at any point during the day," said the 37-year-old instructor after a recent lesson. "Meditation gives you a moment to clear your mind."
Since 1999, Fitzgerald, who lives in Park Forest, has been teaching Tang Soo Do to the professionals, students and families of Hyde Park. He has previously taught at the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club and the University of Chicago, where he continues to mentor a Tang Soo Do student group once a week.
In a neighborhood where stress and crime can seem like old, unwanted friends to many, Fitzgerald feels his Tang Soo Do lessons offer Hyde Park residents both a pressure release valve and a means of self-defense.
Tang Soo Do originated in Korea and is as a combination of Chinese Kung Fu and Japanese Karate forms, according to Fitzgerald. Search through the Chicago Yellow Pages and you won't find another school teaching it in the city. Fitzgerald says his is the only one though two of his students teach members-only lessons at local community centers.
Fitzgerald instructs about 150 students of all ages at his school and teaches free beginning classes twice every weekday and once on Saturdays. First time students need only show up in athletic clothes, ready to go barefoot and to listen, according to Fitzgerald.
Lessons take place at Fitzgerald's "Do Jang"-or training hall, located on 55th Street near Lake Shore Drive. Like those in many martial arts training centers, the walls in Fitzgerald's are covered by plaques, trophies, banners and pictures of luminaries from his fighting form. A seating area just beyond the center's store-front window gives parents and students waiting for lessons a nice place from which to watch the master at work.
In addition to meditation, beginning lessons consist of practicing a few basic fighting methods. Fitzgerald leads his students back and forth across the floor of the training hall practicing techniques like the "Kee Ma Chase"-horse riding stance, the "Sang Dan Mahk Ki"-high block and the "Chun Dan Kyuk"-middle punch. Though not complex, these movements demand precision and thought.
Fitzgerald's buzz cut, goatee and athletic physique contrast with the calm, almost amused demeanor he displays while teaching. While he is quick to correct poor wrist positioning or an unlocked back leg, he does so with good humor.
To get the attention of one young student who dropped his guard during a drill, Fitzgerald explained how a dropped guard once cost the boxer Oscar de la Hoya a fight and some ribs. Wide-eyed, the student quickly adjusted his stance.
Self-defense is very important to Fitzgerald, who began studying Tang Soo Do in 1988 while a student at Penn State University.
"I think everyone should know how to defend themselves. It's like having two kids and not knowing CPR," he said.
Fitzgerald said he has used Tang Soo Do on three occasions outside of his training and "all three were very successful, in fact the person never got a chance to hurt me." Passing on these skills to others is a big reason why he teaches, particularly in Hyde Park, where he sees crime and safety as a growing problem.
"Hyde Park has two faces, a daytime face and a night time face and the night time face is much more dangerous," he said. "The daytime face is professionals, families, students and professors but at night there are gang bangers, drug dealers and people who will hurt you for money."
This emphasis on self-defense separates Fitzgerald and his school from other Chicago martial arts practitioners in Fitzgerald's mind.
"I train for self-defense. Others might train for physical fitness, weight loss, whatever, but I train for self defense and I want my students to come back to me and say it worked." Fitzgerald said. "Criminals hate victims who fight back."
Fitzgerald also takes pride in the accessibility of his beginning classes. He said they "give people a chance to come in and take a test drive."
"A lot of people, before you ever get out on the floor, they make you pay," Fitzgerald said. "I'd rather they come in and check it out a few times. I want you to like it, enjoy it, be sure that you like it, and then sign up for class."
After his students have worked up a sweat from all the blocking and punching, Fitzgerald's beginning lessons end the same way they begin, with seated mediation.
Afterwards they stand, Fitzgerald reminds them to keep selling pizzas to raise money for a 2008 trip to Korea for the International Tang Soo Do Championships and dismisses them with a bow.
Then he sends them off, both a little more prepared and little less stressed out.
Fitzgerald Martial Arts is located at 1742 E. 55th Street and offers beginning lessons weekdays at 11:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 11:45 a.m.
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