BrightStar hiring health-care workers

BrightStar Healthcare, an East Providence franchise providing health-care workers for homes and corporate clients, is hiring 25 to 30 employees. Owner Deborah Gard said the company is looking for certified nursing assistants, registered nurses and physical therapists.

Gard, a former executive with Care New England Health System, said the BrightStar franchise has been open since September. It provides health-care workers for clinical settings, such as hospitals, doctors’ offices and nursing homes, corporate clients who need to staff events such as flu-inoculation clinics, and private clients looking for in-home care. A second BrightStar franchise is scheduled to open in the state in 2010.

Potential employees can contact BrightStar online at www.brightstarhealthcare.com, by phone at (401) 369-7600, or in person at 225 Newman Ave. in East Providence.

— Journal staff

Signs of economic recovery in R.I.

Rhode Island’s economy showed signs of improvement in August, but is still not stable, according to a numerical index created by University of Rhode Island Prof. Leonard Lardaro.

The Current Conditions Index rose to 42 in August, up from 25 in July. Lardaro said it was the fourth month in a row that the index beat its year-earlier value.

The monthly index measures the behavior of 12 economic indicators including manufacturing wages and the size of the work force. There was an improvement in five of the indicators in August. The index ranges from 100 to 0. An index value of 50 is neutral. Anything above 50 signifies expansion, while anything below that signifies retraction.

“Our state’s economy has regained its pulse,” said Lardaro. “While there is no danger of our state’s economic pulse rate racing uncontrollably in coming months, the risk of dramatic slowing persists, especially since our state’s large and persistent budget deficits will restrain our growing momentum.”

— Journal staff

Kmart offers online layaways

Kmart began offering a layaway program online Friday as the discount chain extends a sales program that proved successful during the 2008 holiday shopping season.

The chain, owned by Sears Holding Corp. (SHLD:NYSE), saw double-digit increases in layaways in 2008 as the program proved popular with consumers struggling through one of the worst recessions in U.S. history. Other retail chains quickly followed Kmart’s lead.

–– Paul Grimaldi

ProSelect to keep liability rates stable

ProSelect Insurance Company said it will hold medical insurance liability rates steady for the fourth year in a row in Rhode Island. The company, a unit of ProMutual Group, based in Boston, said 600 health-care providers in the state will benefit.

The company said the decision was based on an analysis of historical and industry data that showed a stabilization of frequency in medical malpractice claims over the past few years.

“While stabilization in the market is certainly one factor, responsible and conservative underwriting has substantially contributed to the company’s ability to keep rates level despite various economic challenges,” said Gregg L. Hanson, chief operating officer, in a statement.

— Journal staff

R.I. workers included in Verizon layoffs

Verizon Communications Inc. announced layoffs Friday to workers across the country, including Rhode Island and Massachusetts. According to the Web site for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Boston, 196 Verizon employees in Massachusetts and Rhode Island lost their jobs.

The union did not specify how many of those workers were Rhode Islanders. Company spokesman Phil Santoro declined to say how many Verizon workers were laid off.

The company announced in July that it planned to cut 8,000 of its 235,000 jobs in the United States.

Santoro said the company “is in the middle of a transition,” with its traditional phone business shrinking while wireless communication and Internet services are growing.

— Journal staff