Franciscan Alliance plans 84 jobs at Greenwood billing center
The Mishawaka-based Franciscan Alliance plans to spend $8.4 million to open an administrative center in Greenwood, creating 84 jobs in the next four years.
Health Care & Insurance
Articles
Illinois House votes to lift smoking ban at casinos
Tom Swoik, executive director of Illinois Casino Gaming Association, said gambling revenue has dropped 32 percent since the state’s smoking ban was approved. He said the ban has cost state government about $800 million in taxes.
Q&A
Susan Rider is an employee-benefits account manager at Indianapolis-based Gregory & Appel Insurance. On July 1, she will become president of the Indiana State Association of Health Underwriters. She spoke about the first-year impact of the 2010 health reform law and further changes to come.
Zimmer goes on offensive against lawyers
The Warsaw-based maker of orthopedic implants has filed suit to stop a Detroit-area law firm from making allegedly false claims and using its trademarks on websites designed to attract plaintiffs to sue Zimmer over one of its knee-replacement implants called NexGen.
WellPoint gets vote of confidence
Health reform will make health insurance a less-profitable business, but WellPoint Inc. got a vote of confidence from bond analysts because health-reform rules have turned out milder than expected and WellPoint’s financial performance has been particularly strong as the economy recovers.
Maturing Chinese market gives WellPoint new prospects
Premiums for private health insurers in China are expected to rise to $90 billion by 2020 from $9 billion now, and WellPoint Inc. is angling for a big piece of that pie.
IU Health cancels $73M project, acquires Gateway Plaza
Indiana University Health has canceled its plans for a $73 million administrative office building at 16th Street and Capitol Avenue and has instead purchased the Gateway Plaza tower at 10th and Illinois streets.
Hospitals’ finances improve somewhat in 2010
It was a good but not great year financially for three of the four largest hospital systems operating in the Indianapolis area last year—and hospital analysts are expecting several head winds to continue.
Health insurers diversify away from regulations
One year after President Obama signed the health reform overhaul, health insurers are buying less-regulated companies in a bid to offset the lower profits and growth they expect the law to cause.
Self-funded plans draw small-firm interest
In the face of new health reform restrictions, expect more small employers to opt for self-funded health benefits, concludes a report this week from Indianapolis-based United Benefit Advisors.
Drugmakers call off animal-health deal, possible asset sale
Drugmakers Merck & Co. and Sanofi-Aventis SA have abandoned plans to combine their animal-health businesses after wrestling with regulators for a year over potential divestitures.
Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. was among a list of possible suitors for about $1 billion in assets the two companies considered selling.
Marcadia Biotech principals ponder next course
Marcadia execs French, Hawryluk reflect on massive growth of Carmel firm after sale to Roche.
Healthy Indiana Plan expansion opposed by some
Indiana wants to use its public health savings account program for low-income adults to cover people who will become newly eligible for Medicaid under the federal health care law beginning in 2014.
WellPoint CEO received 3-percent raise last year
The Indianapolis-based insurer awarded Angela Braly a total pay package worth $13.4 million, up from $13.1 million in 2009 even as the company's profit and enrollment numbers slipped.
Regulators delay approval of Lilly’s Alzheimer’s screen
The Food and Drug Administration said Lilly needs to create a training program to ensure brain scans are interpreted properly.
Trade agency to probe Lilly’s infringement claim
Eli Lilly and Co.’s patent-infringement claim over Hospira Inc.’s generic version of the cancer treatment Gemzar will be investigated by a U.S. trade agency with the power to block imports of the copycat drug.
RATHKE: My saga of staying up to date on health care reform
Human resources used to be about payroll and benefits. Now it’s also about watching Congress.
Indianapolis couple offers seniors a senior housing alternative
Unusual home on south side has a dozen bedrooms for folks who need to give up their own homes.
Hospital systems adopt Starbucks-style service
Indiana University Health is the latest system to drill employees ranging from clerks to physicians in how to treat patients.
Lechleiter: After the deluge, we’ll be fine
Eli Lilly and Co. CEO John Lechleiter visited Japan last week—three days before the massive earthquake—to deliver his tried-and-true message: Drug companies need to reinvent invention, governments needs to support innovation, and Lilly will be just fine after it has sustained the damage of the next three years.