Supreme Court can’t stop ‘reform’
Leaping costs, aging populace and cash-strapped consumers will drive reform in health care industries even if court strikes down law.
Health Care Reform
Articles
Insurers speed health care overhaul preparations
The nation's big insurers are spending millions to carry out President Barack Obama's health care overhaul even though there's a chance the wide-reaching law won't survive Supreme Court scrutiny.
COLVIN: Get ready for a perfect storm in Worker’s Compensation
Rates are set to rise as insurers increasingly note the link between older workers’ health and productivity.
BURTON: Accountability care organizations need good data
Concept is likely ahead of technical ability to make it work.
Hospitals push preemptive care with special programs
Hospitals around Indianapolis and the nation are expanding programs to help people before they become patients. They are trying to teach cooking as well as treat cancer, to do social work as well as do surgery.
Franciscan pulls back Greenwood plans
Franciscan St. Francis Health said its plans to build an emergency room and physician office building in Greenwood are on hold due to uncertainty over the effects of health care reform.
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.
Study: Indy hospitals charge ‘excess’ prices
The Big 3 automakers spent 35 percent more in the Indianapolis area to provide health care for workers and non-elderly retirees than they did in other auto-heavy cities—and two-thirds of that difference can be blamed on “excess prices” by Indianapolis hospitals.
Gallagher sees more broker mergers coming
The Carmel office of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. just made its sixth acquisition in five years, and it expects looming changes to tax and health laws to produce even more chances to snap up benefits brokers this year.
Walgreen marks retailers’ push into health care
Health care reform is projected to cover 30 million more people with health insurance—and overwhelm the nation’s doctors. That’s why retailers like Walgreen and Wal-Mart are moving into the space in a big way.
HETRICK: Here’s a little ditty ’bout health insurance reform
Just before Christmas, I received a nasty-gram in the mail from a firm called ORS.
Rating doctors and other health care providers
A new onslaught of Medicare data might shine more light on providers, but tricky questions abound.
WellPoint, other insurers profit from health law they oppose
Insurance companies spent millions of dollars trying to defeat the U.S. health-care overhaul. But profit margins at the companies have widened to levels not seen since before the recession, a Bloomberg Government study shows.
Hoosiers like parts of health reform law
As it is in the rest of the country, the 2010 health reform in Indiana continues to be unpopular, unlikely to be repealed and uncertain to put a dent in health spending, according to a poll of Hoosiers released last week by Ball State University.
Franciscan among Medicare’s first accountable care groups
Franciscan Alliance’s Indianapolis-area hospitals, along with more than 700 physicians, have been named one of the nation’s first 32 accountable care organizations.
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.
Brokers’ hopes dashed by feds
The Obama administration on Friday let stand an earlier rule that said brokers’ fees will have to count toward a 15-percent to 20-percent cap on administrative expenses placed on insurance plans by the 2010 health overhaul.
States suing over health care law collect funding
Federal officials announced Tuesday they are awarding more money to help states carry out President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Seven states that are suing to overturn the landmark law are also on the list for funding.
Brokers get hope on commissions
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners passed a resolution Nov. 22 that urges Congress and the Obama administration to exclude benefits brokers’ commissions from the new requirement that insurers spend only 15 percent to 20 percent of the premiums they collect on administration and profits.
ZWIRN: Most health care reform will happen at local level
Smart coalitions will cut costs, improve quality.