Company news

Nearly eight years after announcing the closure of its Beech Grove campus, Franciscan St. Francis Health has two serious suitors for the 14-acre property. Los Angeles-based DealPoint Merrill signed an agreement months ago for $3.75 million, including transaction costs. DealPoint plans to fill the 869,000 square feet of rentable space with medical tenants. But closing on the deal has been delayed multiple times. It’s not clear DealPoint has financing, and the developer and Franciscan also are seeking a zoning change for parking. The request is scheduled to be heard March 2—eight days before DealPoint’s agreement with Franciscan is scheduled to expire, according to Beech Grove officials. Meanwhile, Indianapolis developer Joe Whitsett, CEO of TWG Development LLC, has quietly floated a proposal past Franciscan and Beech Grove officials to tear down most of the complex and fill the area with independent-living units for seniors and 50 to 60 single-family homes, according to two sources with knowledge of Whitsett’s plans.

For more than a decade, Eli Lilly and Co. was under investigation for foreign bribery charges that now date back 20 years. Finally, last month, the U.S. Department of Justice told Lilly its investigation is over. The Indianapolis-based drugmaker disclosed the end of the probe in its annual report late last week. The investigation started in August 2003 when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced it was checking whether Lilly’s subsidiary in Poland breached the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977. In December 2012, Lilly paid $29.4 million to settle with the SEC, without admitting or denying the allegations that it paid off government officials to obtain government contracts. That settlement related to activities alleged to have taken place from 1994 through 2009.

A proposal to allow clear medical malpractice claims to go directly to court rather than through medical review panels was defeated Feb. 16 in the Indiana Senate. According to the Indiana Lawyer, lawmakers voted 27-22 against Senate Bill 55, which would have allowed malpractice claims to be filed directly to court when the wrong body part has been removed, or when the claim is based on the existence of a foreign object in the patient’s body. Under state law, any claim for damages in excess of $15,000 must go before a medical review panel of three medical professionals. Panels render opinions on proposed claims before they may be heard in court. An attorney also is appointed to chair the panels but doesn’t vote. Previously, senators stripped the bill of a provision that would have raised the $15,000 limit, which has not been increased since 1985. Another bill still alive in the Legislature, House Bill 1043, would increase the medical malpractice award cap from the current $1.25 million to $1.65 million. The bill also would raise insurers’ liability to $300,000 from the current limit of $250,000.

Stratice Healthcare LLC, a developer of an electronic ordering platform for the health care industry, plans to expand its Carmel headquarters, creating up to 43 jobs by the end of 2017. Stratice, which has 15 full-time employees, has begun hiring for IT, sales, marketing and other professional positions. Founded in 2010, Stratice produces eDMEplus, an ordering platform that electronically connects health care providers with home and durable medical equipment suppliers, filling patient orders ranging from oxygen and diabetic supplies to canes, crutches, wheelchairs and hospital beds.

Indianapolis-based Healthx Inc., which operates a web-based platform for health care payers, plans to add up to 35 jobs by 2018. The company, owned by North Carolina-based Frontier Capital, already employs 70 full-time workers. Founded in 1998, Healthx connects health care payers, health care providers, consumers, employers and brokers. The Healthx client base includes Medicare, Medicaid and commercial health plans, third-party administrators and commercial carriers in more than 40 states.