Marion County survey finds 80 percent of respondents in debt to local hospitals, with about half saying they were never informed
about the availability
of charity care or payment plans.
Unemployment in Indiana has moderated slightly, but more than 313,000 Hoosiers remain out of work. And with attempts to extend
benefits for the jobless stalled in Congress, it’s likely more people will struggle to pay medical bills.
WellPoint Inc. has about $800 million riding on one arcane rule: how to calculate a medical loss ratio. The ratio quantifies
the percentage of customers’ premiums were spent on medical care, rather than overhead or profits.
More than 100 staff members of Indiana Medical Associates LLC likely will land at one of two area hospital systems. The move
mirrors national and local consolidation of practices with hospitals.
Caregivers anticipates coping with declining Medicare reimbursements while having to offer insurance to its employees.
U.S. health insurers are “moving towards an oligopoly,” a process that this year’s health-care overhaul
will accelerate, the investor-relations chief at WellPoint Inc. said Thursday.
Hospitals continued to be a stable and slightly growing source of jobs and wages in Indiana—for better and for worse.
The sector paid $7.3 billion to 127,000 Hoosiers in 2008, according to the latest data from the American Hospital Association.
Physician offices will begin receiving payments from the Medicare that are 21.3-percent below
what they’ve been getting so far this year. Doctors still expect Congress to reverse the payment cuts, but physicians
and the Medicare program will have to reprocess claims, costing both extra money.
The Indiana Family and Social Services told Area Agencies on Aging that a 15-percent cut in funding for the program known
as CHOICE will save about $7.3 million from the program’s $48.8 million annual budget.
The latest idea from Dr. James Spahn, an Indianapolis health care entrepreneur, should help hospitals and nursing homes do
a better job of preventing severe bedsores, or pressure ulcers. That’s good, because Medicare and private health insurers
increasingly won’t pay to treat them.
One in five medical claims is processed inaccurately by commercial health insurers—and a unit of Indianapolis-based
WellPoint Inc. does even worse—often leaving physicians shortchanged, according to the nation's largest doctor's
group.
The federal government is currently doling out $1.1 billion in stimulus funds to pay for research that compares multiple medical
treatments against one another to determine which is most effective. Drug companies like Eli Lilly and Co. are wary that comparative-effectiveness
research could threaten their sales.
WellPoint Inc.'s announcement of comparative effectiveness research guidelines last week marks a new era for U.S. drugmakers.
The Indianapolis-based health insurer will use studies that compare the effectiveness of one drug against another as a complement
to typical clinical trial research that compares a drug against a placebo sugar pill.
The estimate released Friday from an outside actuary hired by the state is lower than the actuary’s “worst case scenario”
given two weeks ago.
Companies in the health care supply chain need to engage in more strategic, long-term preparation even as the industry faces
uncertainties and upheaval, MIT expert tells local conference attendees.
The price increase was fueled by the debate over the health-care overhaul in Washington, D.C., Medco Health Solutions Inc. CEO David Snow said.
As physician mergers increase in Indianapolis, a new study has determined that quality at large, multispecialty practices is at
least 5 percent higher and costs are 3.6 percent lower than at small group practices.
The lawsuit filed this week in Marion Superior Court claims Clarian Health charges uninsured patients—or those receiving
treatments not covered by their insurance—unreasonably high prices.
There has been a noticeable uptick in the level of health care real estate development activity this year.
Medicare actuary Richard Foster estimated the new law would raise overall health care spending by an additional $311 million
over current law—more than when he first examined the legislation in December.
