Healthcare information
technology vendor IDX Systems Corp. ended two days of intense
speculation about the health of the company by saying late
Thursday that Larry Krassner, president and general manager of
the Carecast integrated clinical-financial software division,
was placed on leave due to his own health concerns.
"Today, Mr. Krassner authorized IDX to disclose that
he was recently hospitalized for a medical condition. Mr.
Krassner remains of a leave of absence at this time," an IDX
press release says.
Sources had told
Modern
Physician earlier this week that Krassner actually was
suspended Monday for administrative reasons. Late Tuesday
evening, IDX confirmed that Krassner was on paid leave, but
did not indicate why.
"We did not release details of
Mr. Krassner's leave in consideration of employee privacy. We
could not reach Mr. Krassner to obtain his authorization
earlier. As the press release states--we received
authorization yesterday," IDX spokesperson Margo Happer says
in a Friday e-mail sent to
Modern Physician.
Earlier this week, Happer said company management had
instructed employees not to try to communicate with Krassner.
In the Friday e-mail, Happer writes, "We told
employees not to contact Mr. Krassner as a policy precaution
to avoid confusing the lines of communication."
Shares
of the Burlington, Vt.-based company have plummeted this week
due to the uncertainty, but the decline accelerated Thursday
after an analyst for WR Hambrecht & Co. downgraded the
stock after learning that Intermountain Health Care, a
22-hospital integrated delivery system in Salt Lake City,
canceled an electronic medical records contract with IDX said
to be worth more than $10 million.
After closing at
$17.45 Monday, IDX stock fell three days in a row, ending
Thursday at $14.41. Very heavy trading on the Nasdaq sent the
stock down 12.7% on Thursday alone, following the Hambrecht
report.
However, IDX had regained about 25 cents by
mid-afternoon Friday.
