WellPoint Acquires Columbia-Based Resolution Health
WellPoint Inc., a national health benefits provider, has acquired Resolution Health Inc., a leading data analytics-driven personal health care guidance company based in Columbia.

The acquisition will allow each company to expand its efforts to improve health care quality and reduce health care costs for its customers. Resolution Health will continue to enhance and expand the services it provides to WellPoint as well as to its growing number of other customers nationwide. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“Resolution Health has been a valued partner in analyzing WellPoint members’ health data and providing suggestions to improve care and outcomes for more than two years,” said Dijuana Lewis, president and CEO of WellPoint’s Comprehensive Health Solutions Unit. “This acquisition will allow us to fully integrate Resolution Health’s suite of products to extend the range and quality of services for our members, as well as members across the health plan system.”

Resolution analyzes the medical and pharmacy claims data, lab results, health benefit plan information and personal health information of individual plan members. WellPoint will work with Resolution Health to identify opportunities to help close gaps between recommended care — based upon nationally accepted, evidence-based clinical guidelines — and the care that members actually receive, and reduce medical costs for individuals, their employers and their health plans.

Ulman Welcomes Two International Tech Headquarters to the Howard County
Howard County Executive Ken Ulman has announced that two major technology companies will have their international headquarters in Howard County: Intercontinental Export Import (IEI), an environmental solutions concern; and Prism Microsystems, which provides security monitoring and management of IT infrastructure.

Both companies are headquartered at 8815 Centre Park Drive in Columbia. Representatives from each entity recently accompanied Ulman and others on an economic development mission to Bangalore, India.

IEI operates 12 facilities in the United States, two in Canada, and one each in Mexico, India and China. The company is planning to add 50 jobs in the next year. Prism Microsystems was looking for a larger facility to accommodate its growing operations due in part to the success of its security information and event management solution, which is used by more than 650 global companies in 50 countries.

Ulman has also announced the formation of a new Howard County-India Trade Committee, which will promote increased cross-investment between the county and India, while providing firsthand market information and business contacts to businesses looking for opportunities in both locations.

Howard County Awards Redevelopment of Guilford Gardens to The Shelter Group
A contract for the redevelopment of Guilford Gardens has been awarded to The Shelter Group, of Baltimore. The 18-acre, Howard County-owned property currently has 100 units of garden style apartments and townhomes.

The redevelopment concept consists of converting the current property to a mixed-income, multi-generational community that will include up to 270 energy-efficient apartments, designed and constructed with sustainable green practices in mind.

The proposed Guilford Gardens redevelopment also includes a community center with a pool, basketball/tennis courts, meeting and activity rooms and a gazebo. The buildings are arranged around an expansive community green that will be available for recreation and connected to a series of walking paths designed so that no resident will have to cross a parking lot to reach the community amenities.

The Shelter Group is a national development and property management company specializing in multi-family and senior living communities. Throughout its 30-year history, Shelter has owned and managed a portfolio of approximately 1,000 units in Howard County, all of which the company developed.

The Department of Housing & Community Development expects to receive a more detailed plan from The Shelter Group in May and will then begin negotiating a development agreement at that juncture.

QAI Launches DocPoint Solutions
Fulton-based Quality Associates Inc. (QAI), a provider of services and solutions for document management, imaging and archiving, announced the formation of a new subsidiary called DocPoint Solutions.

DocPoint Solutions will provide a full range of consultative services, support and software for electronic content management (ECM), with a specific focus on providing Microsoft SharePoint to organizations that are looking to expand employee collaboration efforts and increase information exchange across the enterprise.

Like its parent company, DocPoint will focus on providing services to government agencies and private companies in regulated industries, such as accounting, legal, health care and finance. The new company will leverage QAI’s standing as a GSA Federal Supply Service contract holder.

Scott Swidersky, director of QAI’s Information Solutions division, will serve in the position of principal for DocPoint Solutions. “Organizations are looking for specific resources, including software and systems, which will help employees collaborate and be effective, no matter if they are based at one site or a number of geographically dispersed locations,” he said. “The launch of DocPoint Solutions enables us to use our experience in document management and our deep knowledge of the needs of private organizations and government agencies at the local, state and federal levels.”

May 28 Set as Date to Brief Business Leaders on Healthy Howard
Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, the Howard County Health Department, the Howard County Chamber of Commerce, The Horizon Foundation and The Columbia Bank invite local business representatives to a briefing on the Healthy Howard Plan on May 28.

The goal of this countywide initiative is to bring affordable access to health care to all uninsured county residents. Because the plan brings government, business and citizens together to address the issue of the uninsured in Howard County, this forum represents an opportunity to ask questions and gain a greater perspective on how the plan will impact the business community.

The briefing will be held on Wednesday, May 28, at 8 a.m. at the County Executive’s Board Room, on the fifth floor of The Gateway Building at 6751 Columbia Gateway Drive. This event is free and open to all. Pre-registration is requested by calling 410-730-4111 or visiting www.howardchamber.com. More information about the Healthy Howard Plan may be found by calling 410-313-HELP (4357) or by visiting www.howardcountymd.gov.

O’Malley Announces Decision Regarding Wind Power Generation on Public Lands
 Gov. Martin O’Malley has announced that public lands managed by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources will not be considered as sites for commercial wind power generation.

“While we must continue to explore and make progress on creating a more sustainable and independent energy future for Maryland, we will not do so at the expense of the special lands we hold in the public trust,” said O’Malley. “Our public land will continue to be managed for the essential environmental, recreational and economic values they provide for all of Maryland’s families and future generations.”

At the direction of the governor, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources initiated a public comment process in late 2007 that included public meetings cumulatively attended by more than 700 people, meetings with local elected officials and the Savage River and Potomac-Garrett State Forest Advisory Committees, and a 30-day formal public comment period.

Of the more than 1,400 comments received via mail, e-mail, fax, online and verbal testimony, 83% percent expressed opposition.

The decision to prohibit the placement of large-scale commercial and temporary exploratory wind power generation infrastructure applies exclusively to conservation lands held in fee-simple ownership by the state and managed by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

Netherlands Railways Scores Edelman Award From Hanover-Based INFORMS
The application of operations research and analytics to rescheduling a heavily used commuter rail system allowed Netherlands Railways to win the 2008 Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Operations Research and the Management Sciences, which was presented by a locally-based organization.
 
The Franz Edelman Award is presented by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), which is based in Hanover. The competition attests to the contributions of operations research in the profit and nonprofit sectors. Since its inception 37 years ago, cumulative dollar benefits from Edelman finalist projects has topped the $130 billion mark.

UM Hinman CEOs Alumnus Launches Seed Fund for Student Startups
 Students starting companies in the University of Maryland’s (UM) Hinman CEOs program will now have access to seed funding, as alumnus Anik Singal recently launched the fund.

Singal announced the debut of the Hinman CEOs Alumni Fund in conjunction with other Hinman alumni at the university. Singal, who graduated from UM in 2005, is launching the fund through a gift of $50,000. Students can apply for funding, available in increments of $500 to $5,000, by writing a business plan.

“As entrepreneurial undergraduates pursue venture creation, they face challenges in raising sufficient funding to pursue their ideas,” says Singal, founder of Affiliate Classroom, a step-by-step training program to help people launch and grow affiliate Internet businesses. “This fund is designed to meet the needs of these creative and innovative students.”

Singal has opted to take a lead role as founding chairman of the Hinman CEOs Alumni Fund advisory board. He also announced the new Hinman Alumni Challenge Campaign, which is aimed at inspiring other alumni to manage and contribute to the fund.

UM Business School Wraps Educational Mission Into New Doc
The University of Maryland’s (UM) Robert H. Smith School of Business is bringing technology themes from its leading programs and research to students and general audiences with a new documentary, now airing nationwide on public television stations.

Smith will freely share the program, which explores information technology-enabled transformations, with schools and educators to help teach how firms, markets and industries are rapidly evolving with technological innovations. “The Transformation Age: Surviving a Technology Revolution with Robert X. Cringely” was co-produced by Smith and Maryland Public Television and underwritten by the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Smith School is providing copies of a companion book, Inside the Future: Surviving the Technology Revolution, and documentary DVD free to select educators nationwide. Additionally, an online educators’ guide (www.rhsmith.umd.edu/transformationage) offers any school or educator open access to documentary clips, downloads and lesson plans.

Howard County Celebrates Opening of Patuxent Square Rental Community
Howard County Executive Ken Ulman will join the Department of Housing & Community Development and Howard County’s Housing Commission tomorrow, Wednesday, April 23, for the grand opening and ribbon cutting of Patuxent Square, the county’s newest affordable rental apartments.

The event is set for 10:30 a.m. at Patuxent Square, an 80-unit rental community with 16,000 square feet of first floor retail space that was developed under the new Route 1 Revitalization guidelines at 9902 Washington Boulevard in Laurel.

The project was financed through a combination of funds from Howard Bank and Union Bank of California, the county’s Department of Housing & Community Development, the Howard County Housing Commission and federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits.

Howard County Accepting Apps for Moderate Income Housing Unit Program
Howard County’s Department of Housing and Community Development is now taking applications for the April enrollment period for the county’s moderate income housing unit (MIHU) program.

The MIHU program is an inclusionary zoning program that requires developers of new housing in certain zoning districts to sell or rent some of the new dwelling units to households of moderate income. The program offers quality new homes at reduced prices and rents to eligible families. The application deadline is April 30.

In addition, Howard County will hold its MIHU Buyers and Renters Workshop tomorrow, April 23, in the Banneker Room of the George Howard Building in Ellicott City from 7 to 9 p.m. The workshop is open to the public and will assist potential MIHU homebuyers and renters by explaining the program’s eligibility and application process. The workshop will include representatives from some of the current MIHU builders.

MIHU enrollment periods for purchase opportunities are held quarterly. The next MIHU lottery is anticipated to be held in mid-May. Interested persons should call the Department of Housing & Community Development at 410-313-6318 or visit www.howardcountymd.gov.

ABC2’s Owens to Emcee Robbins Awards
WMAR-TV personality Terry Owens will serve as the master of ceremonies for the 33rd Audrey Robbins Humanitarian Awards Luncheon, which is slated to be held May 21 at The Meeting House in Oakland Mills, located at 5885 Robert Oliver Place in Columbia, from noon to 2 p.m.

Developed and overseen by the Association of Community Services (ACS), the luncheon honors individuals and teams in the community who have performed services above and beyond the call of duty.

“Terry’s vibrant personality and warmth added a wonderful dimension to last year’s luncheon, and we are delighted he has agreed to again emcee this event,” said awards Chair Debra Popiel.

ACS created The Audrey Robbins Humanitarian Awards in 1975 to honor the work of human services organizations and those volunteers and staff who go above and beyond all expectations in their service to the community. Tickets are $40 for individuals, $280 for a table of eight and must be reserved in advance. For more information, visit www.acshoco.org or call 410-715-9545.

Electronics Recycling Event Today
Area residents and businesses are invited to a free Earth Day event to drop off their used electronic items for recycling today on Dobbin Road (in the MVA Express parking lot) in Columbia between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Any computers that are still workable will have the memory wiped and will be restored for distribution to worthy causes. Computers and other electronic equipment can contain lead, mercury, cadmium and other toxic materials, while some electronics may also contain valuable metals such as gold, silver and palladium. Contact event sponsor Cindi Arnold with questions at 410-715-3284 or cindi@thegreenrealtor.com.