Affiliate Marketing Secrets

The Brattle Center (TBC) is a struggling mental health clinic based in Harvard Square. Its founder, Dr. Joan Wheelis, is a nationally recognized practicing psychiatrist who has developed outpatient treatment programs based on Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) for patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD).
DBT requires teams of people with different types of expertise and so the original operating model developed by Dr. Wheelis was one in which TBC was staffed by a large number of part-time clinicians, known as the “affiliate model.” Changes in the health care environment, particularly the advent of managed care, have put very real pressures on this model and the company is now in a state of crisis.
Dr. Wheelis is trying to decide whether and how to keep it going. The key decision is whether to shift to a “staffing model” based on a larger number of full-time clinicians. This will require a larger patient population to make the economics of greater fixed capacity viable.
TBC is trying to decide whether to join the Blue Cross Blue Shield network, which would increase its patient population but at rates much lower than it currently charges by only taking private patients. Dr. Wheelis is also pondering whether to start a non-profit foundation as a way of getting money to support its teaching and training programs, or even making the company a non-profit itself.

Kinetic Concepts Inc. has reached a settlement with a former executive it recently sued after he agreed to work for rival wound-care company Smith & Nephew. Under the terms of the settlement, Israel Vierma — who had been KCI’s regional vice president of Latin America and Brazil — can work for Smith & Nephew but is barred from being directly involved in the company’s Latin American operations for almost the next two years. Vierma also can’t directly assist London-based Smith & Nephew in China, Japan and India for the next 60 days. Terms of the settlement are confidential, but certain details were revealed in a permanent injunction KCI and Vierma entered into and filed on Sunday in federal court. The injunction was signed by U.S. District Judge Harry Lee Hudspeth on Monday. KCI spokesman Mike Barger declined to comment on the settlement. Vierma’s lawyer and a Smith & Nephew spokeswoman each did not respond to a request for comment. Smith & Nephew was not named in the suit. Vierma lives in Miami. KCI sued Vierma last month, seeking to prevent him from working in any capacity related to the development of emerging markets for Smith & Nephew. The case originally was filed in Bexar County district court but was moved by Vierma to federal court last week. The San Antonio company argued in its complaint that a noncompete agreement Vierma signed bars him from working for any of KCI’s competitors. Smith & Nephew was among the competitors identified by name. “Vierma acknowledged in the … agreement that his exposure to KCI’s confidential information gave him a ‘competitive advantage’ in the highly competitive medical technology marketplace,” KCI’s complaint states. Vierma also acknowledged, the suit added, that “disclosure of KCI’s confidential information ‘could place [KCI] at a serious competitive disadvantage and could cause serious damage, financial or otherwise, to the business of [KCI].’” Both KCI and Vierma agreed that the noncompete agreement is valid and “supports the entry of (the) permanent injunction.” According to the injunction, Vierma can work as Smith & Nephew’s vice president of strategic marketing for negative-pressure wound therapy in emerging and international markets. However, his duties can’t be specifically directed at the wound-care markets and negative-pressure wound therapy for the specified time periods. KCI generated $14.5 million in sales in Latin America and Brazil last year, according to a signed declaration Vierma submitted in the case. KCI is owned by London-based private equity firm Apex Partners and affiliates of two Canadian pension investment management firms.

Kinetic Concepts Inc. has reached a settlement with a former executive it recently sued after he agreed to work for rival wound-care company Smith & Nephew. Under the terms of the settlement, Israel Vierma — who had been KCI’s regional vice president of Latin America and Brazil — can work for Smith & Nephew but is barred from being directly involved in the company’s Latin American operations for almost the next two years. Vierma also can’t directly assist London-based Smith & Nephew in China, Japan and India for the next 60 days. Terms of the settlement are confidential, but certain details were revealed in a permanent injunction KCI and Vierma entered into and filed on Sunday in federal court. The injunction was signed by U.S. District Judge Harry Lee Hudspeth on Monday. KCI spokesman Mike Barger declined to comment on the settlement. Vierma’s lawyer and a Smith & Nephew spokeswoman each did not respond to a request for comment. Smith & Nephew was not named in the suit. Vierma lives in Miami. KCI sued Vierma last month, seeking to prevent him from working in any capacity related to the development of emerging markets for Smith & Nephew. The case originally was filed in Bexar County district court but was moved by Vierma to federal court last week. The San Antonio company argued in its complaint that a noncompete agreement Vierma signed bars him from working for any of KCI’s competitors. Smith & Nephew was among the competitors identified by name. “Vierma acknowledged in the … agreement that his exposure to KCI’s confidential information gave him a ‘competitive advantage’ in the highly competitive medical technology marketplace,” KCI’s complaint states. Vierma also acknowledged, the suit added, that “disclosure of KCI’s confidential information ‘could place [KCI] at a serious competitive disadvantage and could cause serious damage, financial or otherwise, to the business of [KCI].’” Both KCI and Vierma agreed that the noncompete agreement is valid and “supports the entry of (the) permanent injunction.” According to the injunction, Vierma can work as Smith & Nephew’s vice president of strategic marketing for negative-pressure wound therapy in emerging and international markets. However, his duties can’t be specifically directed at the wound-care markets and negative-pressure wound therapy for the specified time periods. KCI generated $14.5 million in sales in Latin America and Brazil last year, according to a signed declaration Vierma submitted in the case. KCI is owned by London-based private equity firm Apex Partners and affiliates of two Canadian pension investment management firms.