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08/23/09
Health Care Heroes 2009
Filed under: General
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 7:49 pm




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Acupuncture school pinpoints growth
Filed under: General, Business
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 7:38 pm

 

 The Phoenix Institute of Herbal Medicine & Acupuncture plans to nearly double its enrollment to 250 students this year, then double it again by 2011.

 

This exponential growth comes at a time when Americans are spending billions of dollars out of their own pockets on complementary and alternative medicine. Americans surveyed in 2007 by the National Institutes of Health said they had spent nearly $34 billion out of pocket on complementary medicines during the previous 12 months.

 

As the use of acupuncture and other alternative treatments increases, so does interest in careers in that industry, said Catherine Niemiec, founder and president of the 13-year-old institute. Alternative medicine is emerging as a top growth career, she said, with an estimated 10,000 students graduating from 54 colleges of acupuncture and Oriental medicine in the U.S. last year.

 

PIHMA has graduated 91 students from its four-year program in the past decade. But now, the school is drawing about 60 new students a year.

 

“Our goal is to get 100 new students a year in class,” Niemiec said. “Spring is looking pretty good for next year already.”

Arizona has an estimated 472 licensed acupuncturists.

 

Niemiec said PIHMA is attracting a variety of students, from yoga instructors to bankers, who will continue to boost the state’s numbers.

 

“We are getting more (military) veterans as well, who are using their GI money,” she said.

 

The college and its clinic are housed in office space at Third Street and Bethany Home Road in Phoenix.

 

With the increase in students comes a 22 percent increase in employees. The private college now employs 40.

 

Niemiec said her graduates are getting creative in the marketplace. One is offering acupuncture to help golfers improve their swing, while another has combined acupuncture with massage.

 

Even doctors are getting into the alternative side of medicine.

 

Dr. Eddie Wai, who already has osteopathic and pharmacy degrees, saw the emerging trend in alternative medicine and went back to school in China in 2007 to add Oriental medicine to his list of degrees. Now armed with a four-year master’s in Chinese medicine, Wai offers integrative medicine — from acupuncture to Chinese herbal teas — under the John C. Lincoln Health Network’s Deer Valley Medical umbrella.

 

He brought back more than 500 Chinese medical books, many of which describe unique healing herbs. Some are made from unusual natural substances, including donkey hide, scorpions, deer antlers and animal droppings.

 

“I combine the cultures of the Western and the Chinese ways,” said Wai, adding he is not seeing insurance companies cover alternative treatments as quickly as he would like.

 

Some insurers, including Cigna HealthCare of Arizona, cover acupuncture, chiropractic treatments and massage therapy under some plans, depending on what employers purchase, said Cigna spokeswoman Leigh Woodward.

 

“The Healthy Rewards discount program, which includes discounts for acupuncture, chiropractic and massage, is available for anyone with a Cigna plan,” she said.

 

While Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona doesn’t cover acupuncture, it does provide discounts on chiropractic, massage and acupuncture treatments through the American Specialty Health Network, said BCBS spokeswoman Regina Frieden.

 

Jim Hertel, publisher of the Arizona Managed Care Newsletter, said he’s seeing more health plans cover complementary and alternative medicine.

 

“Beginning with chiropractic services, many plans have added a number of complementary and alternative medical services in recent years — usually as a supplemental benefit package that can be added to an employer group’s basic plan,” he said.

 

Phoenix Institute of Herbal Medicine & Acupuncture

Description: The Valley’s only accredited college of acupuncture and Oriental medicine
Location: 301 E. Bethany Home Road, Phoenix
Founded : 1996
Students: 130
Employees: 40
Clinic: Student and professional treatments offered to the general public
Master’s Degree in Acupuncture: $11,000 a year
Master’s Degree in Oriental Medicine: $14,000 a year
Years to graduate: 4
Web:
www.pihma.edu

Phoenix Business Journal - by Angela Gonzales Friday, August 21, 2009



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Two FDIC community bank closures first in Arizona since ’02
Filed under: General, Business, Finance
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 7:15 pm

Trying to stem potential losses that will further deplete coffers, federal regulators have placed a bull’s-eye on Arizona community banks reeling from bad lending decisions during the real estate boom.

 

Last week’s closure of Community Bank of Arizona and Union Bank reinforce that point, as both were bloated with nonperforming loans and foreclosed properties.

 

Community Bank lost $6.6 million in the second quarter and charged off $4.6 million during the first half of the year. Union Bank lost $5.6 million and charged off $6 million through the first six months of the year. As the banks collapsed, their capital dried up, forcing the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions to shut them down Aug. 14.

 

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. became the receiver and estimated the closings would cost the Deposit Insurance Fund –– and taxpayers –– $86.5 million. At the beginning of 2008, the fund was bankrolled with $53 billion. By March 2009, it had shrunk to about $13 billion, the lowest level in 16 years.

 

As of Aug. 19, 78 FDIC-insured banks have been closed this year across the country — and with each one, regulators get more testy.

 

Tanya Wheeless, CEO of the Arizona Bankers Association, said this is a difficult regulatory environment for Arizona banks, which are caught in a Catch-22.

 

“As a bank, if you are serving Arizona consumers and individuals, you are necessarily doing loans tied to real estate,” she said. “Unfortunately, high concentrations in real estate loans are a real hot button for regulators, and the dramatic decrease in land values (is) leaving banks with severe losses as borrowers default or simply walk away from projects.”

 

West Valley National Bank
, which controls nearly $38 million in assets, has had an average of eight audits or exams each year since opening in December 2006, costing its shareholders $100,000 a year.

 

WVNB President and CEO Candace Wiest isn’t happy about the Barack Obama administration’s proposed new regulatory agency to monitor community banks.

 

“The current administration is making a bad time worse. They seem to be dead set on riding in after the massacre and shooting the survivors,” she said.

 

“Do the large investment firms need more oversight? Absolutely, because they create the most risk,” said Wiest, the only Arizona banker to serve on the Federal Reserve Board. “If I failed, I would have some real unhappy shareholders, but wouldn’t have taken down the free-world economy.”

 

But for every closure, there is a winner.

 

Oklahoma-based MidFirst Bank assumed the deposits of both failed banks in Arizona this week and entered into a loss-share transaction on about $55 million of Community Bank of Arizona’s assets — primarily cash, securities and loans, said MidFirst spokesman Mike Piazza.

 

MidFirst also agreed to purchase about $11 million of assets from Union Bank, primarily cash and securities, Piazza said.

The transaction adds five branches to MidFirst’s network in the Valley, which is expected to top 20 locations by the end of the year.

The last FDIC-insured institution to fail in Arizona was NextBank in Phoenix, which closed in February 2002.

 

Get Connected

MidFirst Bank: www.midfirst.com

 

West Valley National Bank: www.wvnb.com

 

Phoenix Business Journal - by Chris Casacchia Friday, August 21, 2009



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Year-old condo tower is 5 percent occupied
Filed under: General, Real Estate
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 7:09 pm

Herb and Paddy Simonson insist they’re not lonely in their 25th-floor condo in downtown Phoenix, but no one would blame them if they were.

 

The couple moved into the 44 Monroe building in November, as the U.S. economy was spiraling into a deep recession and the local real estate market was in a free fall.

 

The Simonsons live in the tallest and one of the most luxurious condo towers in the state, but they don’t have much company. Only 10 of the 196 units are occupied.

 

Herb, a former emergency-room doctor who still works part time at age 78, says he and Paddy paid about $1 million for their 1,900-square-foot unit. They know it’s not worth anything close to that today.

 

“I’m sure this has crashed in value just like everything else,” he says.

 

The Simonsons have no desire to sell, but there are deals to be had at 44 Monroe.

 

A two-bed, two-bath condo of roughly 1,400 square feet is listed for $355,470. One-bed units are available for less.

 

Ryan Zeleznak is overseeing sales at 44 Monroe for the developer, Grace Communities. He’s also a principal in the project. He says he closed a sale there last week, and a growing number of interested buyers have been stopping by.

 

“We’re starting to see more ‘real’ buyers coming through instead of curious shoppers who just want to see a unit,” Zeleznak says.

44 Monroe opened a year ago. Considering the economy and the real estate crash, the timing couldn’t have been worse. Zeleznak says 138 buyers were in escrow 18 months ago, but many dropped out because they couldn’t sell their existing homes.

 

The Simonsons were an exception — sort of. They still own their previous residence a few blocks away at Roosevelt Square II because they haven’t found a buyer. That three-story, 2,500-square-foot condo is listed for $549,000. With a hint of worry in her voice, Paddy says, “We’d really like to get rid of that place.” Herb adds, “no one’s even looking.”

 

But the two have no regrets about buying at 44 Monroe, and the views from their unit help explain why. They have an unobstructed look straight up Central Avenue. From their two terraces, they can see University of Phoenix Stadium to the west, Piestewa Peak to the north and Chase Field just a few blocks southeast.

 

“We get a free fireworks show every time the D-backs shoot them off,” Paddy says.

 

The Simonsons are exactly the type of urbanites city leaders and real estate developers are so desperate to bring downtown. The interior of their unit is straight out of the Copenhagen Furniture catalog: sleek, modern and spotless. Herb says they have season tickets to four local theaters, and they take the light rail to Tempe for Arizona State University basketball games. They enjoy “happy hour” from their balcony and walk to dinner.

 

“It was a dream of ours for years to be in a high-rise,” Herb says. “We still marvel at the view and love to watch the world go by.”

But living in a near-vacant high-rise does have a few drawbacks. The two say their key fobs have had to be replaced because of a few thefts in the building. Herb says he expected a few more neighbors when they moved in. They don’t have any friends in the building.

 

Considering the condition of the real estate market, it’s likely to be quite a while before the Simonsons have to wait for an elevator to get to their condo. But Dave Roderique, president of the Downtown Phoenix Partnership, says he’s confident the market will bounce back.

 

“Everything in the Valley got overbuilt, and the developers went crazy,” he says. “It’s not just downtown condos, it was retail, tract homes … everything.”

 

When asked about the possibility of 44 Monroe falling into bankruptcy, Zeleznak says he and his partners just have to keep on swinging.

 

“We’re doing everything we can to fight through this,” he says. “We’re taking it day by day and hoping the market gets better.”

Paddy and Herb also are hopeful that the bustling downtown they hoped for will take shape.

 

“There’s so much potential here,” Paddy says. “But I don’t know if we’re going to see it all come to fruition.”

 

Get Connected

Grace Communities: www.44monroe.com

 

Downtown Phoenix Partnership: www.coppersquare.com

 

Phoenix Business Journal - by Adam Kress Friday, August 21, 2009



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Credit bill could hurt consumers
Filed under: General, Business
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 6:19 pm

The new credit-card reform bill that started to kick in Aug. 20 is mostly a win for consumers. But as with most legislation, the new rules will result in some unintended consequences that won’t prove so beneficial.  more…



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In real estate, agent scrambles to survive
Filed under: General, Real Estate
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 5:53 pm

Real-estate agents have been among those hardest hit by the housing collapse.

As the entire Phoenix real-estate industry remakes itself in pursuit of a recovery, agents who once sold 10 homes a week and earned six-figure salaries now tend foreclosure properties for little more than gas money while they hope for a listing.  more…



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Investors eye Mesa for movie studio
Filed under: General, Real Estate
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 5:31 pm

Mesa could become a destination for filmmakers if a plan for a production studio can come to life, but a proposed power line and the expiration of the state’s motion-picture incentive program could kill it.   more…



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Major hacking case shows flaws in credit security
Filed under: General, Business
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 5:22 pm

SAN FRANCISCO - This week’s indictment of a hacker believed responsible for the biggest retail-store data breaches in U.S. history doesn’t necessarily make shoppers safer from having their credit-card numbers plundered.  more…



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Home construction in July hit highest level since Oct.
Filed under: General, Real Estate
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 5:10 pm

WASHINGTON - At least the market for new homes isn’t getting worse anymore, and that’s the first step to getting better.

In fact, the overall economy is actually getting a small boost as more buyers walk into model houses ready to sign contracts and builders hire workers to pour foundations and pave roads.  more…



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Pulte Buys Centex, Tries Branding Strategy
Filed under: General, Real Estate
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 4:37 pm

Pulte Homes Inc. succeeded in its quest to become the largest home builder in the U.S. by acquiring Centex Corp., but it already faces a challenge: Can it use brand marketing to win over home buyers?  more…



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U.S. Will Extend Lending Program
Filed under: General, Business, Real Estate, Mortgages
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 4:33 pm

The Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department said Monday that they will extend a key lending program aimed at freeing up credit including loans to build offices, apartment buildings and other types of commercial real estate.   more…



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Ariz. gov won’t act on tax repeal until next week
Filed under: General, Real Estate
Posted by: Lillian Wong @ 4:03 pm

PHOENIX — The proposed repeal of an Arizona property tax remained in question Friday as Gov. Jan Brewer approaches a deadline for deciding whether to include the levy on upcoming tax bills.  more…



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