After the unexpected death of insurance magnate J. Patrick Rooney, two organizations he led until the day he died are scrambling
to figure out who will lead them into the future.
WellPoint Inc. touts as the company’s biggest strength its dominant market share in its health insurance markets. But now
the officers of the company are working to branch out beyond health insurance. They’re training their sales force
on how to better sell dental, vision and even life and disability insurance–which WellPoint refers to as its specialty group
of products.
WellPoint Inc. prides itself on working to hold down the rising cost of health care. But to hear one of its former vice
presidents tell it, the company retaliated against him when he worked to do just that. In a lawsuit against
WellPoint, Dr. Randy Axelrod claims his former employer forced him out when he tried to curtail a drugmaker’s
controversial pricing strategy that was costing WellPoint money.
WellPoint Inc., the most dominant health insurer in the United States, registers as barely a pipsqueak in the rest of the
world. But it’s only a matter of time, say industry experts, before WellPoint plunges into foreign markets to grow sales of
its health benefits and services.
Angela Braly, Wayne DeVeydt and the rest of the top brass at WellPoint Inc. face wrath over the company’s recent stock swoon
from a new group: ex-employees. Four former WellPoint workers have filed lawsuits against the Indianapolis-based health insurance
giant over the losses its 401(k) retirement plan suffered in March when the company slashed its profit forecast for the year.
Service Employees International Union Local 3 is backing local janitors as they restart contract negotiations April 16 with
five of the largest janitorial contractors in Indianapolis. SEIU now is taking direct aim at Lilly, health insurer WellPoint
Inc. and even some local hospitals, hoping they will pressure the janitorial contractors to come to terms.
Anthem Insurance Co. added nearly 75,000 commercial customers last year, pushing its total up more than 4 percent. Anthem,
a subsidiary of Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc., now claims a whopping 1.8 million commercial customers in the state. The
trouble is, Anthem’s dominance limits price competition, according to benefits brokers, making it hard for local HMOs such
as M-Plan or even some national players to compete.
The “father of health savings accounts” isn’t satisfied. At 80, J. Patrick Rooney is gearing up for another health care reform
battle in Washington–five years after winning a colossal victory when Congress awarded health savings accounts tax-free status.
When Eli Lilly and Co. CEO Sidney Taurel announced his retirement Dec. 18, he said he was leaving the company in good shape.
And he can cite plenty of evidence to support him. But when Taurel steps down as CEO March 31, he also will leave a legacy
of a languishing stock price and some costly mistakes that some think could have been avoided. “The facts are the facts; I
guess you can’t ignore it. The stock price has been…
WellPoint, Indiana’s largest health insurer, is making more noise than ever about what it’s doing to help improve Hoosiers’
and Americans’ health.
Marsh Supermarkets Inc.’s decision to offer its employees a health reimbursement account as their only health insurance option
this year has captured the attention of local employers and benefits consultants.
Indiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Atterholt says his philosophy toward consumer protection is to be tough on the “bad actors,”
but friendly toward the “good actors”;–in part, so he can call for their help when needed.Not everyone is convinced, however,
because Atterholt has done so much in his 2-1/2 years as commissioner to promote industry causes.
Matt Gutwein and Lisa Harris drive into work each morning knowing their hospital, Wishard Health Services, will lose half
a million dollars that day. But they’re OK with that. In fact, they’re laying a plan to keep it up for the next 20 years.
Looming large on their to-do list: building a new hospital.
A team inside WellPoint Inc. that created a successful product for the 20-somethings is hard at work trying to create a similar
winner among Hispanics. A roughly 25-person team has researched Hispanics for two years and now is using its findings to establish
a separate brand name, a new Web site and grass-roots techniques to reach Hispanics.
The city’s largest hospital system will try its hand at high-stakes investing. Clarian Health Partners is forming its own
venture-capital fund, called Clarian Health Ventures, to invest in fast-growing companies and finance the commercialization
of research conducted at Clarian or by its staff.
Eli Lilly and Co.’s loss in May of a patent-infringement lawsuit brought by Ariad Pharmaceuticals
Inc. went down as the 6th-largest such jury award last year, a Bloomberg analysis shows.
The July 21 announcement by Lilly Endowment Inc. that it will reduce its holdings in Eli Lilly and Co. by $2 billion will have enormous repercussions. It’s meant to decrease volatility in the endowment’s assets, but it also erodes one of Lilly’s key antitakeover provisions.
The building skeleton planted recently at the corner of 65th Street and Binford Boulevard offers only a hint of the $29 million medical complex Ken Schmidt wants to grow there. The Indianapolis developer will add four more buildings and a separate pharmacy to the 17 acres of land he bought several years ago. The end result, he said, will be a medical plaza that offers a unique blend of services encompassing dental work, radiology and ambulatory surgery, among other specialties….
Advantis Medical Inc. manufactures custom trays and cases for orthopedic surgical devices. That core product line brought Advantis some $5.2 million in revenue in 2004, double the amount of the previous year, said Advantis President Jim Spencer.
