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Biotech database gives G&S high hopes: Firm sees more demand for grant-award research

By conducting market research for some of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, locally based G&S Research Inc. has grown into a $10 million firm. But founders have even higher expectations for their G&S Discovery division, which was formed two years ago. Its flagship product, Navigrant, provides a database of government grant awards for national biomedical research. The total market worldwide for life sciences research is estimated at $45 billion. Navigrant has compiled information on 450,000 awards from 60…

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Butler’s pharmacy addition just what the doctor ordered: New $14M building will help college meet increasing demand for graduates

Mary Andritz, dean of Butler University’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, bursts into laughter when asked how long her department’s been short on space. “I’ve only been here for two years, but I think it’s been for some considerable amount of time,” she guessed. “Probably for 10 years.” Lilly Endowment Inc., however, is filling the prescription in the form of a grant to fund a 40,000-square-foot addition under construction and scheduled to open by the fall 2009 semester. The…

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Community Health CEO Corley preparing for ‘something different’

This month, 65-year-old Bill Corley gave his 18 months’ notice that he will be retiring as CEO of Community Health Network,
the third-largest hospital network based in Indianapolis. Perhaps Community’s board of directors needed so much time to replace
a man who has held his post so long-nearly 25 years. When Corley arrived in 1984, Community consisted of just one hospital
on Indianapolis’ east side. Today, it has five.

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Remember the consumer in ‘consumer-driven’ plans

While many businesses have made the phrase “consumerdirected health care” a standard part of benefits conversations, too many have failed to do the one thing that will make this approach successful: treat employees like consumers. Instead, employers have “communicat ed” this new benefit trend the same old way, with jargon-laced handouts, uninformative brochures and dry presentations. No wonder all employees aren’t embracing consumer-directed health care. Researchers wouldn’t be surprised by employees’ slow adoption. Studies show that employees typically are more…

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Officials turn up call for 2-year degrees: State putting emphasis on higher education options

State and local leaders are turning up the amp on the importance of higher education, but they’re also trying to tune students into the message that being college-educated doesn’t have to mean spending four years at a university. In recent weeks, both Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard and Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels have loudly proclaimed the state’s need for more workers with twoyear degrees. While government officials have long said the state needs a more educated work force to attract business,…

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IPIC’s BioWorksU virtual effort wins acclaim:

A new Web site developed locally and designed to attract youngsters to careers in the life sciences sector now shares something in common with the wildly popular Club Penguin site. The Indianapolis Private Industry Council, with assistance from locally based Creative Street Media Group, created BioWorksU.com. And while more educational and likely more appealing to a larger age group than Club Penguin, the two were among recent Webby Awards finalists. Called the “Oscars of the Internet” by The New York…

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Commentary: HealthNet casts a wide one

Indianapolis is becoming a much more international city. Consider some of the facts: Central Indiana’s Latino population is now 100,000, fifth-fastest-growing in the United States; one in five scientists at Eli Lilly is Chinese; and 2,000 Burmese immigrants live here. These tidbits and mounds of other information about immigration in our community can be found in the International Center’s coffee-table book, “New Faces at the Crossroads: The World in Central Indiana.” The book also contains the stories and beautiful photographs…

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Local mental health centers caught in funding limbo: Federal effort to shift costs to states on hold, but not-for-profits’ budgets for next year must be completed now

At Indianapolis-based Adult and Child Mental Health Center Inc., Executive Director Bob Dunbar has developed a contingency plan as he works on the agency’s $25 million budget for next year. He has two versions of a spending plan for the center, which provides mental health services for 4,200 children and adults a year. One includes moderate cuts tied to state funding changes, and the other deals with massive cuts pushed by the federal government. In the worst-case scenario, as much…

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Benicorp cleanup praised: Customers, employees ease through liquidation

When cash ran dry last summer at Indianapolis-based Benicorp Insurance Co., it could have created a major mess. But 10 months later, Indiana insurance regulators have kept all of Benicorp’s customers covered by health insurance and given its employees a soft landing as they make the transition to new jobs. The last of a backlog of claims has been paid off. “No family in Indiana will have an uncovered claim,” said Jim Atterholt, the Indiana commissioner of insurance. “That’s a…

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Construction behemoth Skanska sees potential in Indy: U.S. division of Swedish-based company sets sights on health care, education, pharmaceutical building sectors

New Jersey-based Skanska USA Building Inc., a division of the $23 billion Swedish construction powerhouse Skanska AB, arrived in Indianapolis in April. Named last year as the top green contractor in the nation by Engineering News-Record magazine, Skanska USA is recognized in particular for its projects in the health care, higher education and pharmaceutical sectors. Its largest project, however, is the $998 million Meadowlands football stadium under construction in New Jersey. Locally, Terry Parrott, 50, is in charge of operations….

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Electronic record system results from frustration: Doctor, partner hawking technology they developed

For Dr. Tim Story, frustration was the mother of invention. The Carmel internist didn’t like the cost or complexity of the electronic medical record systems he had seen. So he created his own. And now he’s trying to sell it to other doctors. “I wanted an EMR that I could use, that I could understand,” said Story, 55, who also chairs the largest group of physicians at Clarian North Medical Center. Story is by no means alone. Hundreds of doctors…

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Builders relying on medical projects: Amid general slowdown, health care sector busy

There’s no shortage of research pointing to the growth in the health care industry. For example, health care expenditures will account for nearly a quarter of the gross domestic product by 2020. Consumers are increasing the number of times they visit the doctor, and the increase is even greater for baby boomers. The number of medical procedures being performed on an outpatient basis rises yearly. And jobs in the industry will grow 20 percent by 2016. To meet those demands,…

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Hospitals are mixed bag for rural economies

Around Indiana, hospitals continue to grow and add workers, increasing their role as an economic driver to the state’s economy.
But health care reformers say hospital growth has a double edge, as higher health care costs dampen growth prospects for other
Indiana employers and their workers.

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Sommer Barnard merger pumps up attorney pay: Arrival of Cincy firm may lift starting salaries citywide

This month’s merger of the law firm Sommer Barnard PC into Cincinnatibased Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP likely will cause salaries for starting lawyers to escalate citywide. That’s because, starting June 1, Taft plans to pay its first-year associates here $107,500-more than the $100,000 firstyear associates currently make at the highest-paying Indianapolis firms. If history is any indication, the topthree Indianapolis firms of Ice Miller LLP, Baker & Daniels LLP and Barnes & Thornburg LLP, and likely a few others,…

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NOTIONS: Political promises no panacea for health care

A while back, I had lunch with my friend John. As is our wont, we talked about politics, religion, our families, joys, frustrations. When the subject turned to work, John told me he’s trying a new approach to fund raising and “friend-raising” for his small not-for-profit cancer agency. He’s cutting out the big, time-consuming special event and simply inviting people in for a one-hour introduction to medically under-served cancer patients and how his organization helps. I told him I’d like…

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EDITORIAL: Leadership has its rewards: Health info exchange is exhibit A

Leadership has its rewards Health info exchange is exhibit A Being the best isn’t everything, but it goes a long way when you’re trying to attract money and expertise. That’s why it’s significant that the Indiana Health Information Exchange is taking its show on the road. As IBJ reporter J.K. Wall reported last week, those who oversee the platform for sharing patient records and test results electronically are preparing to make it available in other states. Hospitals and physicians in…

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NOTIONS: Indiana: See Hillary run against Jack, Bill & Barack

On the eve of the allegedly crucial Ohio presidential primary, I e-mailed a friend in Columbus to ask what it’s like in a state where primaries matter. Her response spoke of endless phone calls from volunteers and machines, get-outthe-vote visits to her neighborhood, yard signs everywhere, nonstop commercials on TV and candidate visits galore. I lamented that Indiana would never experience such a thing. I stand corrected. Thanks to the never-ending Democratic contest between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack…

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Docs dip toes into computerized records: Electronic systems are the future, but high costs slow adoption rate

Ask Cathy Molchan the cost of installing the electronic medical record system in a doctor’s office she administers, and she gives a clear, quantified answer: $80,000. Ask her whether the system saves the practice any money, and her answer is less concrete. “It can definitely save money because of the time savings,” said Molchan, practice administrator for Dr. Leo Bonaventura, an infertility specialist at Clarian North Medical Center. “You can actually be focused more on what you need to do,…

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