Blue Cross reaches out over insurance law changes
Indianapolis-based WellPoint and other Blue Cross Blue Shield health plans are among the health insurers most aggressive in reaching out to build consumer trust and capture spending on policies.
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Roche to cut local jobs after diabetes-care sales plunge
Roche’s diabetes care unit, which employs more than 900 in Indianapolis, suffered a 14-percent decline in revenue during the first half of 2013. Roche has reportedly put the unit up for sale.
Zotec Partners plans $200 million acquisition
Acquisition of Atlanta-based medical billing firm would zoom annual revenue at Carmel-based Zotec from $85 million to $215 million. The combined companies would employ 1,750 people.
IU med school’s research efforts have multiplied, but so have peers’
Retiring Indiana University School of Medicine Dean Dr. Craig Brater has, in his 13-year tenure, doubled the school’s number of research-oriented faculty to 700, doubled the amount of space for them to work in, and doubled the revenue from research grants and contracts. But all that effort has hardly budged IU in national rankings.
WellPoint expects Obamacare to boost revenue to $90B by 2016
Health care reform, long perceived as a huge threat to WellPoint Inc., is now being embraced by the insurer as a huge growth opportunity.
Lilly shares rise after drugmaker reports solid second quarter
Strong sales and penny-pinching helped Eli Lilly and Co. beat Wall Street’s expectations in the second quarter, leading the company to raise its profit forecast for the year.
Franciscan doubles down on accountable care
Franciscan St. Francis Health earned a $6.6 million bonus from the Medicare program for its success at keeping central Indiana patients out of the hospital and the emergency room. So the hospital system will expand its participation in so-called accountable care programs to all its Indiana territories.
Marian’s med school quest was leap of faith
Marian University, a small Catholic college started by Franciscan nuns, next month will launch just the second medical school in Indiana. Marian President Dan Elsener is credited with pulling off the audacious move with a mix of big dreaming, careful planning, deft networking and “don’t take no for an answer” fundraising.
Lilly freezes pay for workers, executives
The pay freeze will save $400 million through 2016, said a spokesman for the Indianapolis-based company. Lilly won’t give pay raises to executives, supervisors or most employees. Some bonuses will also be reduced.
House GOP seeks delay in health care provisions
U.S. House Republicans pressed ahead Wednesday on delaying key components of President Obama’s signature health care law, emboldened by the administration’s concession that requiring companies to provide coverage for their workers next year may be too complicated.
WellPoint rolls out program with cost ceilings for procedures
Under so-called reference-based benefits, insured patients would have to pay the difference between procedure prices and maximums set by their employers. Several Indiana companies are considering using the tactic.
Lilly aims potential Alzheimer’s drug at early patients
The trial of 2,100 patients, called Expedition III, will use new measures of cognitive function, such as the ability to do tasks like cooking or driving, or remembering words after a delay.
Health tech startup aiming for fences
Flying under the radar for much of its existence, local health tech startup hc1.com Inc. now thinks it’s ready to soar. The company, spun out last year from Zionsville-based Bostech Corp., is on pace to generate annual revenue of $10 million by year’s end. And it thinks business could triple next year.
Rx benefits manager plans to hire 205 by 2015
Lisle, Ill.-based Catamaran Corp. has committed to hiring 104 full-time, permanent employees next year and a total of 205 by 2015.
Lilly drug for Alzheimer’s gets limited Medicare coverage
Lilly officials said they will push ahead with the first-of-a-kind imaging chemical, despite the mostly negative ruling by Medicare officials.
Lilly’s Lechleiter back at helm after health scare
Eli Lilly and Co. Chairman and CEO John Lechleiter is back to full-time work after taking a leave in May to have surgery for a dilated aorta, the company announced Monday morning.
New Indiana law praised by physical therapists
The measure, which took effect Monday, allows people to be evaluated and treated by a physical therapist for 24 calendar days without a doctor's referral.
Cook Group looking forward to next 50 years
For leaders of a company looking back on 50 years of existence, Cook Group President Kem Hawkins and Chairman Steve Ferguson spend a lot of time talking about the future.
Miami man pleads guilty to $90M Lilly drug heist
Thieves broke into the Connecticut warehouse of Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. in 2010 by scaling an exterior wall and cutting a hole in the roof. They lowered themselves to the floor and disabled alarms before using a forklift to load pallets of drugs into a getaway vehicle.
Feds mull covering Alzheimer’s test that uses Lilly’s Amyvid
The $3,000 test for the first time accurately identifies the signature brain plaques of the debilitating disease.