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Chorus boos broader sales tax Kasich’s proposal draws protests from service providers that are exempt now By MICHELLE PARK mpark@crain.com
While a recent poll shows Gov. John Kasich’s popularity with
Ohioans is at an all-time high, it’s become increasingly clear his plan to expand the state sales tax to most business services is quite unpopular. A number of trade groups in the
INSIDE: A look at the American Society of Travel Agents’ newsletter that protests the wider tax. Page 4 last two weeks have made it known that they oppose the governor’s plan to lower the sales tax to 5% from 5.5% but broaden the tax to apply to services ranging from legal representation to hair coloring. The
extra revenue would help underwrite a $1.4 billion reduction in income and small business taxes over three years. In an “urgent” message that blares “WE NEED YOUR HELP!!”, the American Society of Travel Agents Mid-America Chapter assured its members in a newsletter:
Union with Catholic Health Partners may improve bond rating, increase its presence
By CHUCK SODER csoder@crain.com
C
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We kick off our new Cream of the Crop series with a profile of Derek Clayton, right, the corporate chef for Michael Symon Restaurants. PAGE 3
Summa’s pairing could be powerful
ViewRay’s president believes company’s MRI machines will revolutionize radiation therapy
See VIEW Page 5
At home in the kitchen
See GROUPS Page 4
A NEW VIEW OF CANCER TREATMENT
hris Raanes has reason to believe ViewRay Inc. could become even bigger than the last company he worked for — which posted sales last year of more than $400 million. Over the last five years, ViewRay has raised more than $80 million from investors, hired about 50 employees and designed a machine that Mr. Raanes says will reshape the process doctors use in cancer radiation treatment. Now the Oakwood Village company is ready to get that revolution started. ViewRay hired Mr. Raanes Feb. 4 to replace Dr. Greg Ayers as its president and CEO. His job is to take ViewRay’s system — which allows doctors to see live MRI images of cancerous tumors as they try to hit them with radiation — and turn it into the new standard for delivering radiation therapy. He already is a big proponent of the technology. “I think this will change the way radiation oncology is practiced,” Mr. Raanes said. “Because once you’ve got the ability to see what you are doing in real time, how could you ever go back?” Last year, ViewRay received regulatory approval to sell its system for use in radiation therapy. The company over the last 12 months has raised $37 million in venture capital, including $5 million announced Feb. 21, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
INSIDE
By TIMOTHY MAGAW tmagaw@crain.com
JANET CENTURY
Chris Raanes was hired last month as president and CEO of ViewRay Inc.
The plan by Akron’s Summa Health System to sell a minority stake in its $1.4 billion enterprise to Cincinnati’s Catholic Health Partners paves the way for a commanding health system — one with 24 hospitals under its belt and a whole lot of money — to make a play in Northeast Ohio. Catholic Health Partners, a health system that employs more than 32,000 and boasts $5.6 billion in assets, has a peppered presence in Northern Ohio, with community hospitals in Lorain, Lima, Toledo, Warren and Youngstown. Combined, officials said Summa and Catholic Health Partners would boast the largest market share in the state. “It was almost a no-brainer,” Summa CEO Thomas Strauss said in an interview last Wednesday, Feb. 27, with Crain’s. “It will give us a minority partner that will buoy our balance sheet and give us a partner aligned with our mission, vision and See SUMMA Page 11
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SPECIAL SECTION
NORTECH AWARDS Crain’s again partners with the local technology advocacy group to highlight some of the area’s most promising innovations ■ Pages 13-16
Entire contents © 2013 by Crain Communications Inc. Vol. 34, No. 9