Employers, now doubly pinched by steadily rising health insurance premiums and a steadily deteriorating economy, are searching
for new and larger cost-shifting tools, according to survey and anecdotal evidence from Mercer, a global benefits brokerage
and consulting firm.
Changes will dramatically materialize over the coming months and years as the delivery of health care services takes on a
consumer-driven focus.
The Indiana General Assembly should pass a bill into law that bans smoking in public places.
The health insurance industry — hurt by falling profits and threatened by Democratic reform bills — could see
another wave of
consolidation, and that may well involve Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc.
As the bedrock of the United State’s health care delivery framework, the nursing profession represents the top need for open
health care positions across Indiana and much of the nation.
Marion County hospital systems anticipate more mergers, possibly with each other.
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Indiana ranked highest among health care plans that primarily serve Indiana, but didn’t
even crack the top 100 nationally in a new study.
Consumer-driven health plans will lead to greater medical expenses later because people avoid going to the doctor now.
Because major employers in Shelby County have laid off workers, Major Hospital isn’t getting as much income from employer-based
medical insurance plans.
Dr. Francis Price Jr. has brought hundreds of eye surgeons to Indianapolis to train them in how to use
a new cornea transplant technique that has swept the ophthalmology field—DSEK, which stands
for Descemet’s stripping endothelial keratoplasty.
The city of Beech Grove is working on a redevelopment proposal for its St. Francis Hospital campus. Tentative plans call for
a mix of office space, apartments for seniors, and retail space.
The St. Francis hospital system and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Indiana are haggling over insurance reimbursement
costs. The original demand of Sisters of St. Francis Health Services Inc. would have increased reimbursement amounts $80 million
over three years, Rick Rhodes, an Anthem regional vice president, wrote in an Oct. 30 letter to employers covered by Anthem.
The increase would mean $12 million more in out-of-pocket costs to Anthem customers. But St. Francis claims its request for
an increase only brings it in line with what other hospitals are getting.
Indiana’s economic woes are long standing and may be having an adverse effect on the health of our people,
because Hoosiers can’t consistently gain access to excellent health care.
On Oct. 31, the Indiana Pacers announced a partnership with Clarian Health to improve health awareness for area residents.
Consumer-directed health plans really work, at least according to WellPoint Inc., which has made a big push to sell them recently.
OneAmerica Financial Partners Inc. has made no secret of its desire to acquire other companies. Well, if it wants to buy,
it could hardly find a better time.
The trustee for Winona Memorial Hospital lost in court against the hospital’s former owner earlier this month — but
not without
receiving a bit of vindication from the judge in the case.
Indianapolis-area hospitals have suffered a double whammy of spiking interest rates on their bonds and heavy losses in their
investment portfolios and are trying to save cash any way they can.
A year of computer snafus boiled over Oct. 13 when the St. Francis system declared WellPoint Inc. in breach of its contract
because of habitually late payments.
Eli Lilly and Co. has written a $6.5 billion IOU to acquire the cancer drugs of ImClone Systems Inc. Cancer drugs are now
the best-selling class of drugs in the world and one of the fastest growing.
