LCA-Vision Inc. said Thursday that it has begun laser surgery to treat farsightedness at facilities in Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio.
The company, which has been performing laser treatments for nearsightedness since 1996, began treating farsighted patients in Ohio after the Food and Drug Administration approved the procedure earlier this month.
The regulatory agency's green light is expected to add more than 50 million farsighted adult Americans to the pool of potential candidates for laser vision correction, industry experts say.
Convergys opens office in Halifax
Convergys Corp., the billing and customer care subsidiary of Cincinnati Bell Inc., has opened its newest customer care center in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to handle incoming calls for both Canada and the United States. The new center already employs 600, expected to grow to 1,000 early next year, Convergys said.
Convergys also has announced an expansion of its operations in St. Louis. Starting next month, the company will move its current call center in Creve Coeur, Mo. to a new facility. The expansion will add 440 workstations and nearly 1,000 jobs. Convergys now employs 1,350 in metropolitan St. Louis.
African American Chamber reaches out to N.Ky.
Add three words and open up membership to the region - that's what directors of the Greater Cincinnati African American Chamber of Commerce want to happen by including "and Northern Kentucky" in its name.
The name change voted upon by members Wednesday means the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky African American Chamber of Commerce will now seek members south of the Ohio River.
"It is an invitation to Kentucky," said chamber board member and attorney Eric H. Kearney. "Everything is going regional, and this is a way for the chamber to have a broader vision."
Lexis-Nexis to provide Shepard's Citations
Lexis-Nexis says Shepard's Citations Service, which provides research information to attorneys, will be available exclusively to Lexis-Nexis users beginning in July.
Reed Elsevier Inc., parent company of the Dayton, Ohio-based Lexis-Nexis, bought Shepard's last July.
"It means we are going to be able to provide our customers with the highest level of products when they do their jobs," Nick Emrick, vice president of Nexis On-Line Publishing, said Wednesday.
Shepard's employs 220 experts who read and analyze court decisions for attorneys looking for cases similar to those of their clients to buttress their cases in court.
Provident is latest to lower lending rate
Provident Bank, Cincinnati's third- largest, lowered its prime lending rate a quarter of a percentage point Thursday.
Provident reduced the rate the bank charges its most credit-worthy customers to 7.75 percent from 8 percent.
It joined Fifth Third, Star and many other banks that have cut their prime since the Federal Reserve on Tuesday lowered by a quarter of a percentage point both the rate banks charge one another on overnight loans and the rate the Fed charges banks for loans.
