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Anthem pitching new wellness program to employers: Insurer rolls out 360* Health program in Indiana

* Health program in Indiana To Randy Reichmann, warning workers about unhealthy lifestyles was nothing new. But it took just four words for a new wellness program from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield to grab his attention: free gym membership-citywide. “You can’t just say, that’s bad for you. You have to say what you’re going to do that’s good for you,” said Reichmann, president of the Indianapolis region for Old National Bank. The Evansville-based bank is the first Indiana employer…

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NOTIONS: Variations on the theme of March Madness

March Madness is upon us-that glorious season born in a Springfield, Mass., peach basket and now headquartered, literally and spiritually, in the Hoosier state. That means, of course, high-pressure conference tournaments; Big Dance brackets and pairings; controversial selections and exclusions; friendly wagers; blowouts; upsets; scoring runs; dry spells; lead changes; come-frombehind victories; heartbreaking defeats; and last-second, game-winning three-pointers. But in only the first week of the third month of the Gregorian calendar, it’s clear-from personal life, to the recession (er…

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Telamon on the rebound: Diversification puts Carmel technology firm back on fast track, prevents layoffs

In 2003, Carmel-based Telamon Corp. hit rock bottom. So, founder Albert Chen returned to his roots. Taiwanese native Chen, 63, had spent two decades building his firm to serve telecommunications giants. But when the dot-com bubble burst, the telecom industry tanked along with it. Telamon-then Indiana’s largest minority-owned business-saw its annual revenue plummet $300 million, down from $456 million in 2001. Most managers would have chosen to shrink Telamon to reflect its new reality. But Chen doesn’t do mass layoffs….

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Commentary: Why are we so afraid of immigration?

Indiana Senate Bill 335 is a poorly crafted public policy that fails to reflect the totality of immigration and the societal and economic issues associated with it. Hispanics are the nation’s largest minority group, numbering 47 million. About a quarter of Hispanic adults, roughly 11 million, are unauthorized immigrants. The Pew Hispanic Center estimated Indiana’s unauthorized immigrant population at 65,000, roughly 1 percent of the population. In 2004, 93 percent of unauthorized men age 18-64 were in the labor force,…

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Insurance insecurities: Data-breach policies touted as way to protect businesses from cyber-related losses

Several local entities, ranging from St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital to the state of Indiana to Indianapolis Public Schools, last year experienced wellpublicized electronic security breaches involving confidential data. While the victims of the lapses and those at fault emerged relatively unscathed, such incidents underscore the ease in which personal information can be lost or stolen in today’s computerized world. With roughly 165 million people tapping into to the Internet nationally, the opportunities for security breaches are plentiful. Throw in the…

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Right time for REITs?: Some predict beaten-down sector is ready for another winning streak

For seven years, real estate investment trusts delivered returns that clobbered the overall stock market. Then, last year, the winning streak came to an end. Between January 2007 and January 2008, REITs as a whole lost 24 percent of their value. An index of the companies took a bigger hit than most every other sector. Among local REITs, Duke Realty Corp. was the hardest hit, with its stock price falling 44 percent, from about $41 to $23, during the one-year…

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EYE ON THE PIE: Primaries and prudence demand attention

Today-not tomorrow or next week, but now-is the moment to get involved in improving your life and the lives of your family and neighbors. Don’t delay. All you need do is both of two simple things. First, find out who is running in the primary election on May 6 for the Indiana House of Representatives and Senate from your district. Yes, the national news media have told us that our Indiana primary may be meaningless. They are referring to the…

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WellPoint yanks controversial letter

Californians are howling over the recent discovery that one of WellPointâ??s units made a practice of asking
doctors to report conditions that the insurance company could use to cancel medical coverage for new patients.

The letter amounted to asking doctors to…

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Do doctors make too much money?

Health insurance companies including Indianapolis’ own WellPoint Inc. have been relentless in trying to suppress
spiraling health costs. So relentless, in fact, that doctors are pushing back.

Physician groups in Kokomo, Rushville and other cities are refusing to take new patients…

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Law firms making green push: Environmental teams provide marketing boost

The next generation of environmental law is coming to a firm near you. Many law firms have existing practices that counsel clients on the complexities of complying with air and water permits or cleaning up contaminated properties. But now that the corporate sector is embracing “green” initiatives quicker than Al Gore accumulates carbon credits, environmental law is becoming as sexy as, say, intellectual property. Two of the city’s largest firms-Ice Miller LLP and Baker & Daniels LLP-recently unveiled so-called “green”…

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HIGHWAY to HEALTH: Trucking firm Celadon drives down costs with innovative wellness plan

Truck drivers are accustomed to logging lots of miles on their 18-wheelers, but on their sneakers? They are at locally based Celadon Group, thanks to its “Highway 2 Health” wellness program the trucking firm launched in 2006. Prodding employees to lead healthier lifestyles is a way to help cut escalating health care costs. It’s a challenging task for any corporation, particularly for transporters whose workers are strewn throughout the country hauling freight on America’s highways. Sitting behind a wheel for…

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Demand for adult day care rises with aging population: Joy’s House, other local facilities expecting growth

Joy’s House on Broad Ripple Avenue provides day care services for 23 people. Often at or near capacity, the not-for-profit is raising funds to build a $1.6 million addition that will quadruple its current size. The cramped quarters, where activities include shooting balls in pint-size basketball hoops, underscores the need for extra space. And the participants are not children; they’re adults-the parents of baby boomers who’ve been thrust into the role of care giver. Adult day care centers steadily are…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: From economic perspective, immigration bill misguided

Few issues garner as much vitriol as the debate over illegal immigration. The dimensions of the debate are wide-ranging, but as with most aspects of public policy, they are heavily influenced by economic issues. Indiana has embarked on an immigration debate, so a bit of economics might be helpful. First, according to the most reliable recent data, Indiana is underrepresented by illegal immigrants compared with neighboring states. I have seen estimates of immigrants in Indiana of between 45,000 to more…

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Lilly expects FDA approval of long-acting version of Zyprexa

Eli Lilly and Co. hopes to extend the life of its best-seller Zyprexa with a potentially lucrative, long-acting form of the antipsychotic drug. But first, the Indianapolis-based drugmaker must win over a panel of medical experts convened by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Feb. 6.

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: More businesses can benefit from a doctor in the house

Fifty years ago, a sick or injured worker in a manufacturing plant did not have to leave work to get care-the worker simply went to the plant clinic and saw the company doctor. Today, the idea of the company clinic is making a come back, but with a new emphasis on wellness and prevention. health recommendations and concerns. In some cases, these routine visits can lead to the discovery of potentially serious conditions that might have otherwise gone unnoticed and…

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Adding to the life science corridor

For years, dreamers have envisioned a life sciences crescent stretching from West Lafayette down Interstate
65 to Indianapolis, then along State Road 37 to Bloomington.

The thinking was, this corridor would take advantage of Indiana and Purdue universities and IUPUI as…

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VIEWPOINT: Legislation could make Indiana unwelcoming

Anxieties about immigration legislation introduced this session are growing. If the bill passes, businesses that “knowingly” hire undocumented workers will face harsh penalties: threeyear probation for companies found to have hired undocumented immigrants; for a second offense, loss of the firm’s license to do business in Indiana. And it would be a misdemeanor to transport, conceal or harbor an unauthorized immigrant; a second offense would be a felony. The law would require the Indiana attorney general to investigate complaints against…

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EDITORIAL: State negligent on smoking ban: Lawmakers sidestep serious issue

State negligent on smoking ban Lawmakers sidestep serious issue We’d like to think the demise of Rep. Charlie Brown’s bill that would have banned workplace smoking statewide was just another casualty of the property tax reform wave. More likely, the bill died because our legislators don’t have the will to tackle the sad state of Hoosier health. Brown’s bill died in a House committee Jan. 23 after a brief hearing in which testimony on the bill’s behalf was cut off…

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