Unscrupulous insurance swindlers better beware.

So says Gov. Mark Sanford, who declared this week Insurance Fraud Awareness Week for South Carolina.

Sanford and other state officials hope increased awareness of the crime will encourage consumers to use the state's insurance fraud hotline to report cases to the Attorney General's Insurance Fraud division.

The tip line, 1-888-95-FRAUD, is part of a statewide awareness campaign to fight back by reporting insurance fraud and putting the criminals behind bars, said Scott Adams, president of South Carolina Insurance Fraud Investigators.

NO DEAL YET

A rumor circulating last week had Roper St. Francis Healthcare finally reaching a deal with a big group of anesthesiologists to work surgeries at Roper Hospital downtown.

Not so, says Patsy Alston, spokeswoman for the company. She said the company and its new CEO, David Dunlap, have been talking with Anesthesia Associates of Charleston and a deal is close.

The discussions have been going behind the scenes for a couple of months, since Dunlap arrived to see anesthesiologists threaten to stop performing nonessential surgeries at his hospital.

The company and the anesthesiologists have been at odds over Roper's decision in June to give another group, AmSol, the contract to provide anesthesia at Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital in West Ashley. Anesthesia Associates would provide services at Roper Hospital.

BACK FRANCHISE

Mount Pleasant is getting a franchise started by a couple of guys in the pizza business, but don't expect to eat there unless you bring your own lunch.

That's because the franchise is Chiropractic USA, a subsidiary of Los Angeles-based Banyan Corp. Chiropractic USA was founded in 2001 to establish a national chiropractic brand. Banyan President Cory Gelmon and CEO Michael Gelmon are franchise lawyers who founded Domino's Pizza of Canada.

Last week, the company announced that it entered into an agreement with Dr. Marvin Arnsdorff, a Mount Pleasant chiropractor who will be the company's area representative for South Carolina and Georgia. Chiropractic USA is looking to start 100 clinics in the two states. Also, Arnsdorff will convert his East Cooper Health Clinic into a Chiropractic USA franchise on Oct. 1.

MORE MERGER BLUES

Wilmington N.C.-based drug company aaiPharma has encountered numerous roadblocks in its efforts merge with Minnesota-based Cima Labs since it was announced early last month, but none bigger than this: Cima is now negotiating with another company.

On Friday, Cima announced that it has agreed to enter into discussions with Cephalon, a Pennsylvania-based drug company. Cephalon had earlier this month made an unsolicited offer to buy Cima's stock for $26 a share.

Cima's board of directors said that Cephalon's proposal was inferior to aaiPharma's all-stock offer, but it did conclude that there is a possibility that more discussions would yield a better offer. In response, aaiPharma CEO Phillip Tabbiner believes that a merger with aaiPharma would ultimately be better for shareholders.

So far, Tabbiner hasn't been able to convince some Cima shareholders. The merger proposal has been heavily criticized and led to one shareholder lawsuit.

A drug company, aaiPharma has a growing facility in Charleston. Cima Labs makes drugs that dissolve in the mouth quicker so people don't need to chew or drink water when they take them.

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