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.
Times are tough enough that more people are beginning to switch to generic drugs to save money. Insurers
like Indianapolis-based WellPoint are playing a role, too, by pushing policy holders toward generics.
People also are splitting pills…
One of the people responsible for ensuring we stay healthy is Dr. Judy Monroe, who directs the Indiana Department
of Health.
So, what keeps someone with a job like hers up at night?
A nightmare scenario is a new virus that quickly…
Just how big of a deal was the Healthy Indiana Plan? That seems to be the key question dividing Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels and his Democratic challenger, Jill Long Thompson, in their competing plans over health care reform. Daniels’ campaign for re-election points to his administration’s ongoing rollout of the Healthy Indiana Plan as his entire plan for health care reform in his second term. The plan, which uses cigarette tax revenue to offer health insurance and health savings accounts…
Joe the Plumber has been getting plenty of attention in recent weeks, but what about Kimberly the Merchant or John the Manufacturer? For all the talk about whether this year’s presidential candidates favor Wall Street or Main Street, there’s little discussion of the fact that neither Democrat Barack Obama nor Republican John McCain may be perfect for all small-business owners. Indianapolis manufacturing firm owner John Raine is backing McCain because of his stance on taxes and labor unions. Local shop…
Medicare’s new rule to refuse to pay hospitals for “preventable errors” hasn’t caused hospital administrators to lose sleep about lost revenue. But they do worry that the new rule, which went into effect Oct. 1, could increase the number of costly malpractice lawsuits filed against their hospitals. It’s not clear yet what the financial impact of Medicare’s new “no-pay” rule will be. But companies that make their money supplying hospitals with equipment and services have wasted no time using the…
An acute physician shortage in Indiana is driving a request for an additional $5 million in annual funding to expand enrollment at the state’s only medical school. The Indiana University School of Medicine’s Physician Workforce Task Force conducted a study in 2006 that found the state already had 3,500 fewer physicians than it should. Indiana had 12,534 doctors in 2005-a number that remains relatively flat because the medical school churns out the same number of graduates each year. Over the…
A person’s DNA may someday determine how doctors diagnose illness and prescribe affordable treatment. That same genetic makeup also might help doctors determine whether a person suffering from cancer might be predisposed to respond or not respond to chemotherapy or another type of innovative or experimental treatment. That future picture of health care delivery, however, is missing a key piece. It doesn’t address what those advancements might mean for health insurance and other related questions about medical coverage. Our current…
A new clinic that is on the cusp of conducting human trials in Indianapolis could distinguish itself as a key player in drug development, not only within the state, but nationally as well. Centurion Clinical Research LLC serves pharmaceutical companies and medical-device makers that need to test their products before they can be approved for widespread use. That first phase, in which healthy people are paid to participate in the overnight studies, is critical in determining the safety and success…
Over the past several years, employers have seen a movement from traditional PPO health plans to consumer-driven health plans, by implementing qualified high-deductible plans such as health savings accounts. This shift has been viewed by most to have initially lowered overall employer and employee cost, but more importantly, it has gotten the employee more involved in their health care choices. Fortunately, consumer-driven health care plans are not the only answer in reducing employer costs. According to the Towers Perrin 2008…
In recent months, all of us have been affected to some extent by economic uncertainty. At a time like this, we need to make well-informed decisions on how we spend our money, now and in the future. Health care spending is one area where people are looking more than ever to get the most value in return for their investment. The rising cost of health care should encourage everyone to explore their health benefit options. But despite rough economic times,…
Small businesses in Indiana stung by rising health care costs now can band together to broker better deals from insurance providers. The rule from the Indiana Department of Insurance took effect in late August and is the final piece of a 2007 health care expansion state lawmakers financed with a 44-cent increase in the cigarette tax. The pooling program is open to businesses with two to 50 employees and is meant to give them strength in numbers so, in essence,…
My sister-in-law is a deputy county prosecutor in Michigan. By all accounts, she’s good at her job. But that may not matter. You see, my sisterin-law’s boss is up for re-election next month. And because his job is on the line, so is hers. So in addition to her day job, my sister-in-law has been working nights and weekends on the campaign. My sister-in-law is passionate about putting away bad guys. She’d like to keep doing it. But it’s not…
But more than a century later, women are protecting more than their own assets-they’re increasingly looking out for the intellectual property of business owners large and small. One of the hottest practice groups within law firms today, intellectual property law falls into four basic areas: copyrights, trademarks, patents and publicity rights. With the exception of patent law, which requires a background in science or engineering, no specialized undergraduate degree is required. Gary Roberts, dean and the Gerald L. Bepko professor…
Several industry surveys predict health insurance expenses will rise at a slower pace in 2009 than in previous years. Many employers, however, are passing the added burden on to workers. Raising deductibles, copayments or out-of-pocket spending limits are the most common ways companies plan to reduce their increases. The trend of passing more of the responsibility to employees has escalated the past five years, giving rise to cheaper alternatives such as consumer-directed health plans. “The tie that binds is that…
A newly filed federal lawsuit alleging widespread abuse of Indiana inmates raises questions about the state’s privatization of prison health care. The Indiana Protection and Advocacy Services Commission, a not-for-profit watchdog organization, sued the Indiana Department of Correction on Oct. 1, charging it regularly segregates mentally ill prisoners into isolation for 23 hours a day. According to the suit, the prisoners are punished by stripping away their clothes and being fed a diet consisting entirely of “nutraloaf,” described as “a…
FAST Diagnostics quickly is becoming one of the more promising companies in Indiana University’s efforts to commercialize its discoveries. Incorporated in November 2006, it is developing a method to measure kidney function faster and more accurately than existing techniques can. While FAST represents speed, the name actually stands for functional assessment and surveillance technology. The fledgling firm so far has attracted more than $4 million from investors, including $2 million from the state’s 21st Century Fund. BioCrossroads, Rose Hulman Ventures…
Signs of hope as many retreat Some shrug off economic fears The front page of this week’s IBJ tells of companies that are in dire straits-or out of business-after banks, jittery about a financial collapse, called their loans or canceled their credit line. Stories like these put a local face on the economic crisis that has gripped the American psyche in the last two weeks unlike anything since the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Anyone who didn’t realize credit’s vital role…
When Arcadia Resources Inc. moved from Southfield, Mich., to Indianapolis last fall, the Indiana Economic Development Corp. crowed with pride. In exchange for incentives worth more than $6 million, the state had landed the headquarters of a publicly traded life sciences firm with more than 5,000 employees. Even better, the company was ready to launch an innovative new product that promises to improve home health care while simultaneously reducing its cost. A year has passed, but investors still aren’t as…
Many of us will visit parents over Thanksgiving and the holiday might be just the time to have a hard-to-hold conversation about financial preparedness. While it can be a difficult conversation to have, its important for adult children to check in with aging parents to make sure they have a plan for retirement and estate needs. It is estimated that about 50 percent of American adults do not have a will, which can result in losing control of your financial…
