North Bay Business Journal

PETALUMA — The American arm of Danish ambulance giant Falck, one of the largest ambulance companies in the world, has acquired Petaluma-based Verihealth Inc., an ambulance and medical transport company founded in 2000.

Many business owners and marketers approach me to ask, “Should I be on Facebook? Should I be using LinkedIn?” It’s never a simple answer because there are many factors that go into the decision to use a particular social tool. Choosing to use a platform for the wrong reasons can doom your plan so I’d like to expand on how one makes that decision.

Unemployment rates across the North Coast continued to fall, with every county improving its jobless rate over both the last month and over the year, according to figures released by the Economic Development Department.

PETALUMA — The nonprofit organization Committee on the Shelterless, better known as COTS, today announced a shift in leadership, with Mike Johnson, the agency’s chief operating officer, assuming the role of chief executive officer.

SANTA ROSA — Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A) reported today that its Electronic Measurement Group (EMG) saw second quarter revenues drop 13 percent since the same period last year. The loss was attributed to continued weakness in wireless manufacturing.

PETALUMA — Petaluma-based Cyan, Inc. (NYSE: CYNI) completed its initial public offering on Thursday, raising $88 million in the sale of 8 million shares priced at $11 per share.

HEALDSBURG — The California Lottery, one of the fastest growing lotteries in the United States, announced today their partnership with project portfolio management (PPM) firm, Métier based in Healdsburg. California Lottery selected Métier’s PPM-as-a-Service and PMO-as-a-Service offerings to enhance visibility and drive PPM maturity within the organization.

One of the catalysts for investigating Sonoma Clean Power is the potential for economic development benefits of developing locally owned and controlled electricity generation assets. With its goal to purchase 33 percent renewable energy at program launch and ramping up to 50 percent renewable energy by 2018, Sonoma Clean Power would provide a stable market for sellers of renewable energy. This market and ability to sign long-term contracts for the purchase of renewable electricity will stimulate local development of clean power projects. Projects could include solar systems on warehouse roofs, small wind farms or biogas digesters using waste from food processors and wineries.

PETALUMA — Hydrofarm Inc. agreed to pay the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency a $316,000 settlement and to stop selling two unregistered pesticides, the agency announced this morning.

Several North Bay restaurants and restaurateurs have been nominated as semifinalists in the James Beard Awards, a prestigious national recognition in the food and beverage industries.

SANTA ROSA — After a national search, St. Joseph Health appointed David Ziolkowski as its new chief operating officer in Sonoma County, overseeing Santa Rosa Memorial and Petaluma Valley hospitals, along with a number of other outpatient and community health services.

SANTA ROSA — Agilent Technoloies Inc. (NYSE: A) reported today that the Santa Rosa-headquartered Electronic Measurement Group (EMG)’s revenues declined 7 percent in the first fiscal quarter of 2013 compared with the prior year.

Sonoma-based staffing company Nelson recently opened of a new office in Southern California, the second location to open in that region within the past year. …

The 28 small- and mid-sized business for sale offerings that were sold in Sonoma County last month was a nearly three-fold increase over the same period last year, which saw 10 such transactions, according to BizBen Index. …

Prima Medical Group officially welcomed physicians from Palm Drive Medical Center to its expanding team. …

Santa Rosa-based TriVascular, Inc. recently announced U.S. Food & Drug Administration approval of its Ovation Prime abdominal stent graft system for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms. …

PETALUMA — Calix, Inc. (NYSE: CALX) today announced revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2012 was $91.4 million, up 12.5 percent compared to $81.3 million for the third quarter of 2012, and flat compared to $91.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2011.

In its first month since getting state approval for expansion last fall, Sacramento-based HMO Western Health Advantage said it has enrolled some 750 persons into new employer health plans across Sonoma, Marin and Napa counties.

SANTA ROSA — Direct Flow Medical, Inc. today said it has received approval to use its transcatheter aortic heart valve replacement in Europe.

Everyone is looking for an edge when it comes to investing. Who knew gender could be a factor? Often it is the male who professes more interest in finance and investing, but it turns out the female brain’s innate affinity for “connecting and protecting” has some advantages.

With full implementation of the health care law on everyone’s mind, from providers to insurers to employers, federally qualified health centers have long been viewed as a critical piece of expanding access, many of them anticipating an influx of new patients and thus an increase in services.

But while the Affordable Care Act will add significant funding for the nonprofit health sector, such health centers are rapidly evolving on their own, in part to address changes in health care but also in response to increasing demand, according to North Bay health center executives.

Three North Bay hospitals received “A” grades for patient safety from the Leapfrog Group, considered the industry standard for hospital surveys. Kaiser Permanente hospitals in San Rafael and Santa Rosa and St. Joseph Health-operated Petaluma Valley Hospital each received the ranking from the Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit run by employers and other large purchasers of health benefits. …

Sound Physicians, a Tacoma-based hospitalist organization, announced an agreement to provide comprehensive hospitalist services at Sonoma Valley Hospital. …

Operation Access, a nonprofit whose mission is to mobilize a network of medical volunteers, hospitals and community health centers to provide access to surgeons for low-income and uninsured people, recently held its celebration of volunteers at Lagunitas Brewery in Petaluma. …

Partnership Health Plan of California recently honored the Petaluma Health Center for achieving 100 percent of the nonprofit, managed Medi-Cal health plans’ goals. …

Sutter Health announced the appointment of Stephen Nolte as chief executive officer of Sutter’s recently announced health plan, which is currently in development in Sacramento. …

St. Helena Hospital recently raised $1.5 million at its annual foundation gala held at Silver Oak Cellars in Oakville. …

State Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina, plans to introduce legislation that would expand the powers of nurse practitioners, pharmacists and other health care workers as a means to address a shortage of primary care physicians, a problem that experts have long warned will be exacerbated by health care reform. …

PETALUMA — Redwood Community Health Coalition recently took part in a pilot project testing a mobile health application that enrolls patients in public assistance programs, a potentially pivotal development for the public health sector. The accelerating convergence of mobile technology and health care will likely open new avenues of access to underserved populations, which could in turn help states with implementing key pieces of health care reform, officials said.