Hopes slipping among state business owners
A survey of Hoosier business owners shows an increasingly a ho-hum outlook, with only one in seven optimistic for their own company and even fewer encouraged about the U.S. economy.
J.K. Wall
Articles
St. Vincent, Community team up, forming colossus
Three area hospital groups—St. Vincent Health, Community Health Network and Suburban Health Organization—have agreed to join forces to manage patients’ health and strike new kinds of contracts with employers and health insurers.
WellPoint to add 100-plus local jobs for new Medicare contract
WellPoint Inc.’s National Government Services unit will add more than 100 jobs in Indianapolis beginning late this year or early next after the health insurance giant won a new contract with the federal Medicare program.
Bernanke: Economy growing much too slowly to put people back to work
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told a local lunch crowd that he expects the economy to keep growing, but he said the growth is so slow that it could create a "permanent group" of underemployed Americans.
Sledge’s exit will keep IU program mostly intact
The departure of Dr. George Sledge likely will sap the breast cancer research program at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center of about $500,000 in annual funding. But the program Sledge built over the past three decades mostly will remain intact.
Will Medicaid expansion actually work?
It would be “absurd” and a “travesty” for Indiana not to expand its Medicaid program, according to two local hospital officials. And yet other health care leaders do not expect expanded Medicaid coverage to provide nearly as much help to uninsured Hoosiers as hoped.
Some hospitals, doctors might be cut from health plans
With health insurance premiums continuing to outstrip inflation, some health insurers and hospital systems are considering bringing back an old strategy: limiting patient access to a “narrow” network of doctors and hospitals.
WellPoint likely to go outside for chief
While WellPoint Inc. and its predecessors have a history of grooming new CEOs in-house, the next leader of the health insurance giant is likely to be an outsider, according to interviews with more than a half dozen former directors and officers of the company.
Group aims to cut costs of late-stage drugs
You know things are bad in the fiercely competitive pharma industry when drugmakers start turning to each other for help. But that’s exactly what happened last week when 10 major drug companies—including Eli Lilly and Co.—joined forces to cut costs out of clinical trials.
Bill for Medicaid expansion? $516M a year
If Indiana expands its Medicaid program as called for under President Obama’s health reform law, it likely will hike state spending on the program an extra 13.5 percent—or $516 million annually—by 2020, according to the latest projections from Seattle-based actuarial firm Milliman Inc.
Ivy Tech battles enrollment dip by promoting its lower tuition
This summer, Ivy Tech Community College rolled out a nearly $1 million marketing campaign that stressed the school’s affordability versus other higher education options. The message appears to have hit home. What looked like an impending 15-percent reduction in fall enrollment ended up at just under 5 percent.
High-deductible premiums rising, too
Since 2007, premiums for high-deductible health plans’ family coverage have grown 32 percent—compared with 30 percent among all health plans, according to survey data from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
WellPoint spends $50M to burnish brand
The Indianapolis-based health insurer expects the purchase of health insurance to look and feel much more like online retailing than ever before, where brand name, along with price and convenience, win the day.
Sheriff’s office defends keeping Anderson, Cottey on payroll
Former sheriffs Frank Anderson and Jack Cottey are each being paid $35,000 per year by the Marion County Sheriff’s Department for advice and work on budgeting, jail operations and other issues.
Purdue health care engineering center lands another $10M
Purdue University’s Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering will get another $10 million from the Indianapolis-based Regenstrief Foundation, keeping its research going through 2018.
Vegetable growers, Dow settle dispute over new herbicide
A coalition of vegetable growers and food producers led by Indiana-based Red Gold Inc. will ease off their opposition to a new herbicide developed by Indianapolis-based Dow AgroSciences LLC.
Rushville manufacturer to add up to 45 jobs in $26M expansion
Intat, a subsidiary of Japan-based Aisin Takaoka Co. Ltd., makes metal casting pieces for use in auto manufacturing. It employs about 230 people in Rushville, about 40 miles southeast of Indianapolis.
Bloomington docs still feuding with Anthem
A large physician practice in Bloomington remains at an impasse with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Indiana less than two months before their contract is set to expire.
Growing ENT market attracts Cook
Bloomington-based Cook Medical announced a new division to capitalize on the growing market for minimally invasive procedures to fix problems in ears, noses and throats, as well as other maladies of the head and neck.
Nyhart makes first West Coast acquisition
Indianapolis-based Nyhart Actuary & Employee Benefits has established its first office on the West Coast with its latest acquisition.