Obamacare exchanges could zap WellPoint profits
According to one estimate, the Indianapolis-based health insurer will shed $400 million in pre-tax profits by 2017.
J.K. Wall
Articles
Feds scrutinize nursing home buying spree
Indiana’s county-owned hospitals have rushed to acquire nursing homes in the past two years, opening a revenue stream for both the hospitals and the long-term-care facilities. But the additional federal revenue that has driven these purchases could come under threat.
WellPoint CEO: Acquisitions of hospitals, doctors unlikely
Joe Swedish, who took the helm of the Indianapolis-based health insurer a month ago, threw cold-water Wednesday on widespread speculation that he will lead the company through a wave of buying hospitals and medical practices.
WellPoint raises profit forecast after solid first quarter
The Indianapolis-based health insurer easily beat Wall Street’s expectations for earnings in the first quarter and revenue rose 15 percent.
Mercer courts employers with private exchange
Mercer Marketplace will offer health coverage from four companies—Aetna Inc., Cigna Corp., UnitedHealthcare and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
Lilly on the rise as investors run back to pharma stocks
Investors are gaining confidence in the ability of major drugmakers, including Eli Lilly and Co., to improve their pipelines of new products. The big pharma firms begin to report first-quarter earnings this week.
Pace of venture capital funding slows in Indiana, Midwest
Seven Indiana companies attracted $16.4 million in venture capital during the first quarter. Nearly all the money was paid out to Carmel-based ChaCha Search Inc., which secured a $14 million investment in January.
Charges flew after IU-Kokomo chancellor’s sudden exit
When Michael Harris resigned abruptly last September as chancellor of Indiana University’s Kokomo campus, he did not go quietly, according to a series of emails he exchanged with IU administrators.
Report: Medicaid expansion could juice economy
Proponents of a Medicaid expansion in Indiana are playing up the economic boost the state and its businesses could see from the expansion of health insurance coverage called for by President Obama’s health reform law.
Q&A
Mike Ripley, a health care lobbyist for the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, talked about the business group’s views on a proposed expansion of coverage by the Indiana Medicaid program. As it stands now, the 2013 Indiana budget bill includes a plan passed by the Senate as Senate Bill 551, which would have OK’d the Pence administration to negotiate a block grant deal with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to expand Medicaid coverage via a program like the Healthy Indiana Plan. When that bill was altered in the House to remove the block grant concept, the Chamber dropped its support. The altered House bill is now dead, and the original Senate plan has been added to the budget bill. Its ultimate fate is still unknown
Analysts: Lilly faces ‘ugly’ period until its pipeline produces
Investor smiles about new experimental cancer drugs and an aggressive play for the animal health market in China turned to frowns after Lilly disclosed deep cuts to its U.S. sales force.
Pay rises faster at Indiana public universities than national peers
The campus with the highest-paid faculty was Purdue at West Lafayette, where the average salary was $101,000, followed closely by IU-Bloomington, where salaries averaged $98,400.
IU medical school’s push to launch startups bears fruit
The Indiana University School of Medicine has launched 12 companies in the past 18 months—a burst of startup activity the school has never seen before.
Expected revenue slump spurs Lilly to cut sales force
The Indianapolis pharmaceuticals giant said Thursday that it would lay off hundreds of U.S. sales reps, as it prepares for the loss of patent protection on two of its best-selling drugs.
Employers expect little health reform impact until next year
The full rollout of Obamacare on Jan. 1 will force some employers to make key decisions this year, but many area experts think 2013 will be anticlimactic, as most employers hold steady to watch the law’s changes play out in 2014.
Clinic, wellness pay off for OneAmerica
Even as employers embrace workplace wellness and on-site clinics more than ever, there is still a healthy bit of skepticism about whether they actually pay off. But OneAmerica Financial Partners Inc. credits its clinic and wellness program for the lion’s share of a 15-percent reduction in its per-employee costs for health care.
IU Health to chop $1 billion off costs
Even though Obamacare likely will expand health insurance coverage to an extra 500,000 Hoosiers over the next few years, IU Health expects per-patient reimbursements to fall as the federal government, employers and patients all push back on sky-high health care costs.
WellPoint execs get double-digit pay bumps while stock falls
The Indianapolis-based health insurer’s board of directors approved higher compensation heading into 2012, after most of its top executives saw their pay hold steady or decline in 2011.
Medical finance driving major changes in health care marketplace
Brian and Emily Kahn had virtually identical physical therapy. He paid much more than she did. Why? Because of where the therapy took place.
House pursues ‘Arkansas model’ on health coverage
Indiana could expand health insurance coverage for low-income Hoosiers entirely through private health insurance plans under an amendment adopted by a House committee on Monday. The change was immediately criticized by the Pence administration.