Tom Murphy – Indianapolis Business Journal

Insurer may be low on targets: WellPoint’s latest megadeal could be last for a while

October 3, 2005

A lack of available targets may steer Well-Point Inc. away from its diet of multibilliondollar acquisitions after it digests the latest purchase, New York-based Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurer WellChoice Inc. That, in turn, might slow the company’s frenetic growth rate, according to analysts who follow the health insurance industry. Blockbuster deals like the $20.8 billion merger that created WellPoint last year swelled the health insurer into the biggest player in its industry. In 2004, it reported a $960 million profit,…

WellPoint company slapped over Medicare: AdminaStar Federal agrees to pay $6 million to resolve old fraud allegations

October 3, 2005

A WellPoint Inc. subsidiary has agreed to pay $6 million to the federal government to resolve whistleblower accusations of rampant Medicare fraud over a seven-year span in the 1990s. AdminaStar Federal altered claims information, overcharged the government, and even hung up on customers to reduce call times and improve evaluations, according to civil lawsuits filed by several whistleblowers in 1999 and 2000 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. The Indianapolis-based company administers and processes Medicare claims…

M-Plan might be ready to deal: State’s No. 2 health insurer talks merger with Ohio firm

October 3, 2005

M-Plan Inc., Indiana’s second-largest health insurer, has entered preliminary talks that could lead to a merger with Ohio’s oldest medical insurer. A source familiar with the discussions said they have centered on merging M-Plan’s Indianapolisbased parent, The HealthCare Group LLC, with Cleveland-based Medical Mutual of Ohio. The source, who asked not to be identified, said Medical Mutual would end up with the majority stake. M-Plan, a nearly 20-year-old insurer owned partly by the city’s Clarian and Community hospital systems, would…

Building boom out of hand?: Critics say hospital construction boosting health care costs

September 26, 2005

The network has launched a growth spurt that will take it into new markets, boost technology and strengthen Riley Hospital for Children all over the next few years. This construction also will pile on to the cost of health care, according to several researchers and health care experts. How that trickles down to the average patient bill, or if it does, remains to be seen. Consultant Edmund Abel has to think back more than 20 years to recall a capital…

Proposal aimed at curbing medical mishaps: Indiana hospitals, surgery centers may have to start submitting data on serious errors by the first of the year

September 19, 2005

The state health department wants to spotlight serious medical errors in hopes the scrutiny will reduce the likelihood of future mishaps. The department’s Indiana Hospital Council recommended last month that it start requiring hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers to disclose 27 severe problems-also called “never events”- within 15 days of their discovery. The list of those events, which was devised a few years ago by the not-forprofit National Quality Forum, includes surgeries performed on the wrong body part or the…

Winona’s trustee seeking money, answers:

September 19, 2005

Winona Memorial Hospital hasn’t treated a patient in more than a year, but it continues to care for the leftover medical records of roughly 60,000 people. The fate of those records is one of many loose ends waiting to be tied up by lawyers and others shepherding the defunct hospital through liquidation. Indianapolis attorney Paul Gresk, the hospital’s Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee, also wants to find cash to give hospital employees their last paycheck. And he wants to learn more…

Opportunity … .. or Albatross?: Winona bankruptcy creditors move toward sheriff’s sale

September 19, 2005

A sheriff’s sale to the highest bidder may be the fate of the once-bustling Winona Memorial Hospital. Bankruptcy creditors, frustrated that they haven’t found a buyer for the vacant near-northside property, plan to seek a foreclosure that clears the way for public auctions of the hospital and an adjacent nursing home. A sale and renovation of the properties could boost the neighborhood surrounding Winona, a part of town that has struggled but is riding a wave of good news the…

Formula freebies create controversy: Medical profession encounters gray area when it accepts samples

September 12, 2005

The free mouse pads and pens that popped up every time a baby formula salesman visited Indiana University Hospital annoyed Marsha Glass, a former lactation consultant there. However, the cases of baby formula-left not for newborn mothers but for nurses on her floor who had babies at home-prompted her to take action. Giving formula to nurses, she said, went way beyond the $75 limit set for such gifts by Clarian Health Partners, the hospital network that includes IU. Glass complained…

State unrolls insurer-friendly plan: New strategy aims to recruit, nurture insurance businesses; watchdogs wary of approach

September 5, 2005

The state of Indiana is aggressively courting the insurance industry to add high-paying jobs to the economy, a strategy that comes with a touch of controversy. The Indiana Economic Development Corp. announced late last month the appointment of Mike Chrysler as Indiana’s first-ever director of insurance initiatives. Chrysler then hit the ground driving. He’s already visited the Fort Wayne market and plans to reach several other corners of Indiana to let insurers know the state appreciates their business and wants…

Lilly battles five-year flu: Analysts: Drugmaker primed for rebound from Prozac defeat

August 29, 2005

It’s been a challenging five years for Eli Lilly and Co., which has launched nine new drugs yet seen the price of its stock fall by half, wiping out more than $60 billion in market value. However, company officials say the drugmaker has rallied from the jarring setback it received Aug. 9, 2000-when a federal appeals court invalidated Prozac’s patent protection-and are optimistic better times lie ahead. They say the company is positioned to increase profit and revenue, thanks to…

Soldiers confront insurance obstacles: Health providers reluctant to accept Tricare coverage due to low reimbursement

August 22, 2005

Karen Welch had plenty of reasons to break out the worry beads last year, even before she dealt with Tricare, her new health insurance provider. The Zionsville resident was a month pregnant with her first child when she watched her husband, Travis, leave for Afghanistan with his Indiana National Guard unit. Then she learned she had to find a new primary care physician who would accept Tricare. She also needed an obstetrician/ gynecologist and a pediatrician in the netwowrk for…

Questions follow Standard into new arena: Company boosts health services with several purchases

August 22, 2005

Standard Management Corp. followed the sale of one of its staple insurance businesses with a flurry of purchases this summer aimed at shifting its focus to health care services. Despite all the change, some constants remain for the struggling Indianapolis holding company: seven-figure quarterly losses and questions about its new direction. Standard completed the sale of Standard Life Insurance Company of Indiana to Louisville-based Capital Assurance Corp. in June for $79 million, then wasted little time spending some of the…

Eli Lilly spawns start-up: Maaguzi plans rapid growth selling software to manage clinical research trials

August 15, 2005

Eli Lilly and Co. has sold clinical-research software it created to a veteran Indianapolis entrepreneur who plans to market it globally, potentially growing his startup company into one of the area’s largest technology firms. Joe Huffine, best known as co-founder of the technology consultancy Onex Inc., said his new firm, Maaguzi LLC, should benefit as the market for research software grows explosively. Maaguzi’s software allows researchers and patients to record data electronically instead of on paper. The software is geared…

Community entity wants to know where to grow next: Visionary Enterprises may test markets in several states

August 8, 2005

Community Health Network first exported its expertise in surgery-center management a few years ago. Now, the Indianapolis-based network wants to see how far beyond state lines it can push the growth for this moneymaking venture. The not-for-profit hospital network is exploring Kentucky, Illinois, Ohio and other Midwestern states as possible growth sites for Visionary Enterprises Inc., according to Community CEO William Corley. The for-profit arm of Community already runs an office and three locations in Michigan, along with five in…

Dose of OPPORTUNITY: Wellpoint, other health care insurers forge strategies to grab their share of Medicare drug-plan business

August 8, 2005

Afresh market that could be worth billions of dollars lies just over the horizon for health insurers like Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. Medicare, the U.S. government program for the elderly and disabled, will add a prescription drug benefit starting Jan. 1, and it could spend as much as $60 billion next year on medicines for 30 million people, according to Bloomberg News. But before insurers can start cashing in on this potential, they must develop their drug plans, win over some…

Electronic network prepares to branch out: More hospital systems, doctors in line for speedy test results through Indiana Health Information Exchange

August 8, 2005

The Indiana Health Information Exchange starts a busy fall next month with plans to add two more hospital systems to a cutting-edge electronic network designed to improve patient care in central Indiana. The expansion is helping keep Indiana ahead of other states exploring this new branch of medical technology, experts say. The state also is home to the Indianapolis Network for Patient Care, a system that started in the mid-1990s as a way for hospital emergency rooms to share patient…

Baby doctors ready to bolt: Clarian North’s new north-side med center to lure business from St. Vincent, Community

August 1, 2005

Storm clouds are gathering to the north as St. Vincent Health applies the last coat of polish to its $19 million Women’s Hospital renovation. The Indianapolis hospital will lose an obstetrician-gynecology group that delivers as many as 1,440 babies a year shortly after it completes its expansion in September. The 10 doctors of Women’s Health Alliance plan to move offices and shift 80 percent of their practice to a new competitor, Clarian North Medical Center, a $285 million project scheduled…

Docs asked to put ownership stake in writing: State now requires disclosure for some patient referrals

July 25, 2005

A new state law aims to shine more light on the touchy financial relationships that can crop up when a doctor refers a patient to another health care business. Since July 1, physicians have had to provide patients with a written disclosure when they make a referral to another business in which they have an ownership interest. That could mean a laboratory, specialty hospital or an imaging center, among other possibilities. State Rep. Vaneta Becker, R-Evansville, said she wrote the…

Insurers look to make uncommon comeback: Pafco, Superior hope to leave rehabilitation this year

July 25, 2005

Only the hum of central air-conditioning broke the silence when Doug Symons recently led a quick tour of the Indianapolis office where his Superior Insurance Group once employed about 180 people. Rows of gray cubicles sat empty. Boxes filled with old claims and underwriting files lined the aisles. “This,” Symons said as he waved his arms around, “is what an empty office looks like waiting to be filled.” Those bare cubicles could fill up with dozens of new employees and…

Court files grow thick against Guidant: Shareholders, patients, employees air their grievances

July 18, 2005

“Attention, patients with Guidant heart defibrillators,” the announcer’s voice booms as the television commercial begins. Nearly 50,000 of the devices were recalled June 17, and people using one may be at risk, according to the ad, which has run in Tennessee, Kentucky and central Indiana so far. It ends by urging viewers to call the Becker Law Office in Louisville for a free consultation. That ad could spawn at least 10 wrongful-death lawsuits, according to Gregory Bubalo, a Louisville-based lawyer…

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