APRIL 8-14, 2013
This week, learn how health care reform is leading the Indiana University Health system to cut 20 to 25 percent of its expenses over the next four years—as much as $1.2 billion annually. There’s more on the medical front in Focus, where J.K. Wall presents a case study in the vagaries of billing—a married couple who paid widely different amount for the same therapy at different hospitals. And don’t miss Kathleen McLaughlin’s special report on the Center Township Trustee Eugene Akers and questions about how he’s spending taxpayers’ money.
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City to buy key parcel for 16th Street tech corridor
The city of Indianapolis is poised to pay Citizens Energy Group $6.5 million to buy a key parcel of real estate it’s targeting as the centerpiece of its ambitious 16 Tech project.
Read MoreAs city budget tightens, Center Township trustee has money to burn
IBJ SPECIAL REPORT: Center Township lowered its bank balance in 2012, to $6.7 million, but the biggest checks Trustee Eugene Akers wrote weren’t for emergency needs like food or shelter, the township’s main mission.
Read MoreTough times didn’t spur spike in poor relief
Heading into the 2008 recession, Center Township sat on $10.5 million in cash, but sky-high unemployment and rising poverty over the next four years failed to drain those funds, and the disconnect persists in several area townships.
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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.
Read MoreLilly pulls back from proposals lowering takeover barriers
Fortunately, a Lilly takeover looks less likely today than it has in a long time—for both obvious and more subtle reasons.
Read MoreSmartphone videos rewrite rules of customer research
Carmel-based Strategic Marketing & Research Inc. is among firms tapping the capabilities of video-enabled smartphones to gain insights into consumers’ thoughts and emotions. They’re doing this by having consumers use their phones to shoot a video diary of their product experiences.
Read MoreMobile boutique takes pop-up retail on the road
Heather Hogan Pirowski, owner of Retro 101, is among a growing number of retailers who have chosen the nomadic lifestyle . Looking for an alternative to the fixed overhead of a permanent location, they set up shop at a site for a few days or weeks, then pack up and move on.
Read MoreIndiana’s health care transparency laws get failing grade
Indiana’s laws requiring hospitals to release price information are woefully inadequate, according to a report by two health insurance reform groups. Indiana was among 29 states to receive an "F" grade.
Read MorePedcor moving ahead with $13M Central State apartments
The Retreat on Washington would be the developer’s second project at the former psychiatric hospital campus on Indianapolis’ west side.
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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.
Read MoreStrong sales of retirement plans boost OneAmerica
A big bet on employer-sponsored retirement plans is paying off for locally based OneAmerica Financial Partners, a company best known for its life insurance offerings.
Read MoreMCDONALD: Groups making headway attacking health problems
The statistics we hear so often are clear. As a community, we are not in an enviable place. We smoke more, exercise less and weigh more than the national average, resulting in more diabetes than average.
Read MoreCOLWELL: Indianapolis strategizes for health care reform
The recent flurry of big announcements portends well.
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MORRIS: Celebrate city’s philanthropy scene
Good things are happening in the philanthropic community.
Read MoreKENNEDY: Listen to the Millennials
Last month, the media and much of the American public fixated on oral arguments in two same-sex marriage cases being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Read MoreFEIGENBAUM: Legislative deadline spawns flurry of activity
In one 48-hour stretch early in the first week of April, lawmakers provided a truer lay of the session land than in all the days leading up to it.
Read MoreIndiana leads in Medicaid change
A society can be judged by how it deals with its most vulnerable. When it comes to health care, the best thing for every Hoosier, rich or poor, is more choices and more incentives for preventive care. In the debate over Medicaid expansion, our aim must be to protect the health of Hoosiers in need and maintain the fiscal health of our state. Expanding traditional Medicaid cannot accomplish both.
Read MoreHicks: Three bad ideas that just won’t disappear
Perhaps difficult economic times unleash the power of long-discredited ideas into general circulation, because three bad intellectual influences merit noting—one from the political right, one bipartisan folly and one from the left.
Read MoreSkarbeck: Stockman ‘rant’ draws welcomed responses
A lengthy New York Times opinion piece by David Stockman has set off a firestorm of response from a variety of sources who editorialize about stock markets and politics.
Read MoreALTOM: CIOs are hard to find, so mentor promising candidates
A CIO has to blend business and technical skills in ways that aren’t taught to technicians.
Read MoreBan canned hunting
The General Assembly is considering legislation that would allow businesses to continue to provide high-paying customers the ability to shoot white-tailed deer within fenced enclosures.
Read MoreIraq column not credible
I read with incredulity Mike Hicks’ [March 25] column on the Iraq war’s “success or failure.”
Read MoreTax cut costs taxpayers?
How would IBJ allow John Zody [April 1 Forefront] to write, “The governor’s 10-percent income tax cut, which would cost taxpayers more than a half a billion dollars …”?
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First Internet Bancorp jumps into dividend game
The parent of First Internet Bank late last month declared a dividend of 6 cents per common share payable April 15 to shareholders of record April 1.
Read MoreUnited Way expects to cut grants despite record fundraising
The not-for-profit on Tuesday projected a record 2012 campaign total of $41 million. But as more donors earmark gifts for specific purposes, less is available for general grantmaking.
Read MoreMayor Ballard accepts fate of mass-transit bill
Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard sat out an April 2 hearing on mass transit because he knew the issue would be shifted to the Legislature’s back burner.
Read MoreBoone County development group names new leader
Bryan Brackemyre, who has been interim executive director of the Boone County Economic Development Corp. since his predecessor left for a position in state government early this year, got the full-time job effective April 1.
Read MoreWTHR’s IRS investigation receives national honor
The station was honored for a six-month investigation into Internal Revenue Service mismanagement that resulted in fraudulent tax refunds for undocumented workers.
Read MoreHouse 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.
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