President of American Health Services Resigns

NEWPORT BEACH — The American Health Services Corp. chief executive credited with building the company into a $30-million operator of medical imaging centers resigned on Monday.

In announcing that S. Lewis Meyer had stepped down as president, chief executive and a director, company officials offered no reason for the resignation.

American Health named E. Larry Atkins, the company’s executive vice president and chief operating officer for the past four years, to replace Meyer.

In a statement Monday, American Health expressed its “appreciation for Meyer’s efforts.” Meyer could not be reached for comment.

American Health contracts with hospitals and other health-care providers to supply diagnostic equipment for such procedures as magnetic resonance imaging and computerized tomography at medical centers in 12 states and Puerto Rico. Eleven of the centers are in California.

Atkins said he plans to encourage the company’s expansion by opening new centers. He said the number of centers is expected to increase to 40 by the end of this year, from nine in 1988. Twelve more centers are scheduled to open in 1991.

The publicly traded company, which employs 158 people, posted strong results for 1989. Net income was $910,145, contrasted with a loss of $4.7 million for the previous year, which included a loss of $4.1 million from discontinued operations. For the first quarter ended March 31, 1990, the company posted net income of $325,508, up from $106,666 for the like period in 1989. According to company spokesman Bradley Serwin, revenues for this year are projected at $30 million.

Meyer had guided the 8-year-old company for the past 6 1/2 years. Before joining American Health, he was chief executive of Datatron Inc., a Tustin computer equipment company.

Atkins was president from 1979 to 1986 of Dallas-based American Medical International Diagnostic Services Inc., which provides mobile diagnostic imaging. Previously, he established a product distribution network in Europe, India and the Middle East for Technicare Corp. of Amsterdam.