New law lets pharmacists provide pneumonia, HPV vaccines
Starting July 1, pharmacists will be able to offer a much wider variety of immunizations to customers, in an effort from lawmakers to make health care more accessible.
Doctors
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IU Health agrees to sell occupational health clinics
US HealthWorks Medical Group, which specializes in workers’ compensation cases, agreed in May to acquire the eight clinics. The deal is expected to close before the end of June.
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.
Sequester could sap $200M from Indiana health care providers
The sequestration plan kicking in Friday will chop Medicare payments to hospitals, doctors and nursing homes by 2 percent, beginning April 1. One study estimates that the cuts could result in 10,000-plus job losses in Indiana alone.
Hospital systems forcing doctors to choose sides
The five-year trend of physician practices marrying up with hospitals has made it harder and harder for independent physician practices to spend time in more than one hospital system.
IU, Marian set to launch wave of docs
Between the new Marian college of medicine and an enrollment expansion at the Indiana University School of Medicine, the state will have 88 percent more med students by next fall.
Hospitals paying big to snag surgeons
Across the four largest hospital systems in central Indiana, six physicians received more than $1 million in compensation in 2011 while two others received more than $900,000 and nine others received $700,000 or more, according to the hospitals’ most recent reports to the IRS.
Marian med school oversubscribed
Marian University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine—only the second medical school in Indiana—will enroll 162 students this fall, about 8 percent more than it planned.
Records for 55,000 patients stolen from oncology group
The Cancer Care Group in Indianapolis said a laptop computer bag containing private information on as many as 55,000 patients has been stolen.
Brater to retire as dean of IU medical school
Dr. Craig Brater, 66, has worked at the Indianapolis-based school for 26 years, including the past 12 as dean. The school is the second largest medical school in the nation and the only one in Indiana.
Survey: Solo practices nearly gone
Only 1 percent of the jobs given to Texas-based Merritt Hawkins over the past year were for solo practitioners, the physician recruiting firm reported this month. That’s down from 22 percent of all searches in 2004.
Physician buyouts bruising hospitals
As St. Vincent Health has nearly doubled the number of physicians it employs over the past two years, the losses on those practices have mounted. And the same thing is happening at all the major Indianapolis hospital systems, as all have spent the past four years aggressively acquiring physician practices.
IU doc group becomes Eskenazi Medical
A group of 123 doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants have formed the Eskenazi Medical Group in order to focus on maximizing patient care and related bonus payments at Wishard Health Services.
Anthem seeking state rule change allowing doctors to practice online
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield has renewed its push to bring online care to the Indiana market, including video. It has asked the state’s Medical Licensing Board to relax a 2003 rule that stands in its way.
Rating doctors and other health care providers
A new onslaught of Medicare data might shine more light on providers, but tricky questions abound.
Independent doctors fear loss of referrals
Independent health care facilities, like Body One Physical Therapy, are seeing referrals from physicians beginning to slacken as more and more doctors become employees of hospitals. The hospitals request that doctors send patients to their in-house physical therapy practices.
BROWN: The real reason hospitals are buying doctor offices
Raising prices is easier when numbers are limited.
Ortho firms pull back on doc payments
The number of payments in excess of $1 million didn’t change substantially from year to year, but orthopedic companies sharply cut their fees to surgeons who received the smallest amounts.
Startup aims to mend doctors’ social media woes
RepuChek software tracks, analyzes what’s being said about doctors on the Internet.