Beverly Enterprises’ President Quits

Beverly Enterprises Inc., the nation’s largest nursing home company, said its president and chief operating officer has resigned, effective immediately. The company gave no reason for Boyd W. Hendrickson’s resignation in its news release. Earlier this month the company reported a 63% drop in earnings for its third quarter, blaming lower Medicare reimbursements and rising labor costs. In August, Beverly said it would pay $175 million to the federal government in a tentative settlement of a Medicare billing investigation. Hendrickson’s resignation had “nothing to do with the government investigation of the Medicare situation. None of the agreements we had with the government involved any individual culpability,” Beverly spokesman Jim Griffith said. “There was no singular event that led to this and it would not either be true or fair to make any connection between this and the government settlement. The timing was truly coincidental.” David R. Banks, chairman and chief executive, will assume Hendrickson’s duties until a successor is named, the company said. Hendrickson joined Beverly in 1988 and has been an executive with the company since November 1995.