Verve Health, an Indianapolis-based company that provides wellness and health clinics to employers, is pitching a new option—integrative medicine. If plans are successful, it could add more than 100 workers in the next year.
Since 2008, the Indiana University School of Medicine’s Department of Ophthalmology has seen nine physicians depart—nearly half its clinicians who care for adult patients.
Since 2008, the Department of Ophthalmology at the Indiana University School of Medicine has seen nine physicians depart—nearly half its clinicians who care for adult patients—and one more is now trying to leave. If a 10th physician departs, the exodus would leave the department with only 10 physicians treating adult patients, and many of those doing so only part time. The doctors have left because of a mix of disputes about pay and violations of patient privacy, according to multiple people with knowledge of the situation. Dr. Louis Cantor, department chairman, called the departures “normal faculty attrition” as the medical school and the Indiana University Health hospital system merge their physicians into one entity. He said the school is working to hire replacements.
Verve Health, an Indianapolis-based company that provides wellness and health clinics to employers, has begun pitching integrative medicine as an option to employers. Integrative medicine tries to improve people’s health with food, supplements, fitness and alternative medicine before trying prescription drugs. Verve Health is the new name adopted by RepuCare OnSite LLC to reflect its July 2014 acquisition of wellness provider Spectrum Health Systems Inc. Verve is trying to raise $2 million to $4 million to take its services to more clients and more states. If its plans succeed, Verve could nearly triple its workforce over the next year—from 65 to as many as 180. Verve operates five employer clinics, including two for Celadon Trucking, and another for the city of Kokomo and Howard County governments. It also provides wellness services to 50 employers.
Over the past three years, 116 Indiana hospitals cut out nearly 4,700 patient harms, saving $22.3 million, as part of a coordinated effort to make hospitals safer and prevent patients from having to come back. The three-year program, called Partnership for Patients, was part of a national effort funded by the Affordable Care Act. According to the Indiana Hospital Association, nearly half the savings came from preventing 1,254 readmissions of patients over three years. Another $2 million was saved by preventing 110 venous thromboembolisms. Also, the hospitals reduced early-elective baby deliveries 76 percent. And they worked to reduce infections caused by catheters and central lines, falls, severe bed sores, surgical site infections, ventilator-associated harm, obstetric harm and giving patients wrong medications or drugs that conflicted with other medications.
Even though he declined to sign it, Gov. Mike Pence will allow a three-year moratorium on construction of additional nursing homes to become law. Senate Enrolled Act 460 prevents construction of new skilled-nursing facilities, unless a facility replaces an old facility, after March 1, 2016, in any county with less than 90-percent occupancy in its existing nursing homes. “As a strong advocate of free-market economics, I hesitate to support any restriction on commerce, but in an industry that derives 85 percent of its revenue from state and federal sources, we must always consider the impact of our policies on the cost to taxpayers,” Pence said in a statement May 8. “A three-year pause on new-facility construction will give our state and the long-term-care industry the opportunity to achieve a better balance between institutional care and home- and community-based services while we engage in a much-needed discussion about reforms to our current Medicaid reimbursement formula.”
Pence signed a bill into law May 5 giving civil immunity to volunteer health care providers, according to The Statehouse File. The new law also provides immunity to licensed medical professionals who volunteer their services at no cost to taxpayers or patients. It applies to physician assistants, advanced nurses, podiatrists and optometrists, and allows them to provide basic treatments like physicals, routine services and the treatment of minor cuts. The law takes effect on July 1.
The report by the accounting firm BKD LLP released Monday found the BMV lacked a centralized authority accountable for ongoing compliance with legislation and an internal audit function.
PricewaterhouseCoopers had served as ITT's outside auditor for at least two decades before it abruptly announced last November it would step down, giving up some $1.5 million in fees a year.
That’s the message city officials seem to be sending of late, and it’s a troubling trend for a county tax base that struggles to fund basic services.
The Indiana University Simon Cancer Center appears ill-suited for the future of cancer care and its own future is in question.
Republic Parking System Inc. has won the right to manage 6,100 state-owned downtown parking spaces, as well as hundreds of parking spots at White River State Park, for up to five years.
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner announced plans Tuesday to kill the $1.5 billion Illiana Expressway project, a proposed tollway that would link Interstate 65 in Indiana and Interstate 55 in Illinois.
The new version of the Healthy Indiana Plan, backed by Obamacare funding, has enrolled 229,000 new participants in four months without breaking stride.
A legal battle over the city’s troubled $32 million plan to rent a fleet of electric cars could cost taxpayers dearly. But Mayor Greg Ballard’s administration left the City-County Council little choice.
City officials hope to start construction in 2017 on a nearly $32 million teardrop roundabout that would bridge through traffic over 96th Street.
Lauren Bailey, 24, the town’s first director of planning, is responsible for envisioning what the fastest-growing community in the state could look like in five to 10 years.
Hackers stole Social Security numbers and other highly sensitive data from more than 21 million people, the Obama administration said Thursday, acknowledging that the breach of U.S. government computer systems was far more severe than previously disclosed.
A Department of Child Services family case manager who says her caseload is more than twice what Indiana law allows has filed a lawsuit contending the excessive work makes doing her job extremely difficult and puts children at risk.
Since the recession, Julie and Joe Bielawski have found their services more in demand than ever.
Only about 2 percent of the avalanche of residential units built in Hamilton County the last five years is dedicated to affordable housing.
During a visit to the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis, Robert McDonald said Thursday he thinks Congress will act to avoid shutting down some VA hospitals and other cost-cutting steps.
With this year’s bill estimated at $37 billion and counting, perhaps the sheer cost of cleaning up after IT security breaches at health care organizations will spur the industry to find a bandage for its hemorrhaging computer systems.
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