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Health care fix may wait for ’08: But other federal bills important to small business are making headway

That’s not what many NFIB members wanted to hear. “I’ve been a member of [the advocacy group] since 1985, and since 1985 the top issue has been health care that is affordable for businesses and employees,” said Barbara Quandt of Indianapolis-based Quality Environmental Professionals Inc. The firm’s health insurance costs increased by 33 percent in 2007, and Quandt said company leaders are “quaking” with dread over what will happen in 2008. QEPI covers 75 percent of insurance costs for its…

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Health hot spot rises in Brownsburg

Plans abound to bring new health care facilities to Brownsburg, one of Hendricks County’s fast-growing towns. Some familiar
local names, such as OrthoIndy, St. Vincent Health and Clarian Health Partners, all have claims to land in the Brownsburg
area.

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Pain of nurse shortages eases for hospitals: They enjoy fewer vacant positions, but still worry about coming boomer retirements

Good news. The shortage of hospital nurses isn’t quite as bad as it used to be. In the last five years, Indianapolis’ hospitals have chipped away quietly at the gap in nurse staffing that seized local and national attention earlier this decade. To achieve these modest declines in what hospitals call their nursing vacancy rates, they have revamped their recruitment and retention efforts at a time when nurses have more options outside hospitals than ever before. Nursing schools are working…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Upon further review … new reasons for old buildings

Buildings, just like people, have lives. They’re born, they do their jobs, they take on new roles and, after about 75 years, most of them reach the end. Sadly, some beautiful ones die too soon, while a few ugly ones live too long. How should we decide when to save a building or when to tear it down? And have the reasons changed? The terms of renovation are well-known (adaptive re-use, mixed-use development and historic preservation). When our actions meet…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Choosing renovation or new construction a tough decision

Sooner or later, in the life of almost every building owner, there comes a time when a structure has outlived its usefulness in its current condition. A choice between two options must be made. Do we renovate or do we demolish and build something totally new? The answer is by no means easy or automatic. Confronted with these options, an owner must grapple with a host of issues. The following sample is not exhaustive but may prove helpful as a…

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EYE ON THE PIE: Should fees replace property taxes?

So you want to be a boxer in Indiana? There’s a $10 fee to be paid every other year for the privilege. That’s a lot lower than the twoyear fee of $100 paid by architects. A driver’s license is good for five years and costs just $19.50. Whereas your aircraft bears a $10 annual registration fee, your passenger car has a $20.75 annual state fee. If you want to support a special cause, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles charges a…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: How Indiana’s industrial economy looks to a newcomer

This week marks the start of my tenure as director of Ball State University’s Bureau of Business Research. I take over from Pat Barkey, whose thoughts on the state’s economy have long graced this column. His will be hard shoes to fill. I have read over many of Pat’s old columns, and the one thing that stands out is how much we agree on the issues facing the state-and their solutions. Contrary to the old stereotypes, hard-headed economists usually come…

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New high school puts focus on workplace: Cristo Rey gives students taste of real employment

Terry Majors wants to make a name for himself in the business community, and he’s confident he’s well on his way to being successful. Making eye contact, he shakes hands firmly and confidently. He’s dressed neatly and professionally in a white, buttondown shirt and tie. His shoes are well-polished. He speaks in a friendly, yet authoritative, voice about a new job he will soon start. “It’s all about choices,” he says philosophically of life, as if he’s been making choices…

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Busy Lauth develops into national power: Hoosier entrepreneurs fuel growth at real estate firm

Before they had fancy suits or fast cars, the four owners of Lauth Property Group were resourceful teen-agers, busy finding ways to make money. Chairman Bob Lauth, President Michael Curless and CEO Greg Gurnik each started neighborhood lawn-care businesses. The company’s treasurer and chief accounting officer, Larry Palmer, hawked programs at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. At the time, their hard work and entrepreneurial instincts helped scrounge up date money. In the last few years, it’s helped them turn Indianapolis-based Lauth…

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NOTIONS: Health: another troubled bridge over U.S. waters

On a bookshelf in my office, I display a box of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, three packs of Benson & Hedges cigarettes and the program from my late wife’s memorial service. I display the pasta because, until the company was spun off earlier this year, Kraft Foods was part of Altria Group. I display the Benson & Hedges because that brand is part of Phillip Morris USA, which is also part of Altria Group. I display the memorial-service program because…

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Prescription drug abuse on the rise

When the Department of Justice slapped St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital with a $1.2 million fine last month, it stunned local
medical professionals. But the issue behind St. Vincent’s troubles is no surprise. The diversion of prescriptions drugs from
the medical field into recreational use is a widespread problem in Indiana and the nation.

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: How tax reform could fix ailing health care system

Will a new president and the next Congress finally take meaningful action to address the financial storm looming for health care? Perhaps. In the meantime, the pressures created by rising health care costs have been too strong for everyone else to wait. Businesses have been adapting to rising premiums for employer-provided coverage in predictable ways. And beginning with Massachusetts, states are responding to rising Medicaid costs by crafting solutions of their own. But much of the solution, whatever shape that…

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Local elder care service courts working care givers: My Health Care Manager partners with local firms to reach children of aging parents on the job

Local startup My Health Care Manager has found a faster way to get its elder-care message out. It has persuaded five local employers to direct their workers to My Health Care Manager if they need help finding and coordinating care for one of their aging parents. As of Aug. 1, law firms Barnes & Thornburg, Ice Miller and Hall Render Killian Heath & Lyman, accounting firm Katz Sapper & Miller and the Indianapolis office of the Publicis advertising firm all…

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STARTUP GAZELLE WEB & CONSULTING LLC: Entrepreneur offers to help entrepreneurs

STARTUP GAZELLE WEB & CONSULTING LLC Entrepreneur offers to help entrepreneurs Type of business: Consults with startup and growing companies Location: 885 Waveland Lane, Greenwood Phone: 450-7746 E-mail: lott.brandon@gmail.comWeb site: www.gazellewebandconsulting.comFounded: December 2006 Owner: Brandon Lott Owner’s background: Lott, 33, grew up in the south side of Indianapolis and graduated from Indiana University in 1998 with a health care degree. He went to New York in 2005 to work as an operations manager for retailer Alan Flusser Custom Shop, but…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: The link between taxes and high health care costs

“Things that can’t go on forever don’t.” If those famous words of the otherwise obscure Nixon-era economic adviser Herbert Stein apply to anything, it is health care spending. Most of us recognize that health care is expensive, breaking the budgets of many households, pressuring businesses and even challenging the spending capacity of giant federal programs like Medicare and Medicaid. What is less clear is why this is so, and what can, or should, be done about it. We spent more…

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INVESTING: Don’t give up on stocks, despite talk of bear market

The S&P 500 on June 1 set a rally high of 1,540. Now, it sits at 1,507. That’s the longest stretch of no forward progress since last summer. So, does that mean anything? There is no shortage of professionals telling us the next bear market is upon us. And with more than a few industries not participating for a while, it might seem the bears have a valid point. Before you pull out the lifeboats, though, there are a few…

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Regulator’s cheerleading chided as ‘inappropriate’: August event will promote health savings accounts

Not yet a believer in health savings accounts? Not to worry. The Indiana Department of Insurance is here to convert you. The insurance regulatory arm of Gov. Mitch Daniels’ administration is staging a symposium Aug. 3 to educate employers on the benefits of health savings accounts. Employers are increasingly pairing the tax-favored accounts, stuffed with a couple thousand dollars for each employee, with high-deductible health insurance as a lower-cost alternative to health plans with co-pays. Most employers also pay for…

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Strides taken in life sciences, experts say: Industry panel: Thanks to ongoing efforts, Indiana has experienced serious progress as biomedical hotbed during last 5 years

Five leaders of Indiana’s life sciences industry offered their perspectives at the Indiana Convention Center June 26 as part of the Indianapolis Business Journal’s Power Breakfast Series. The panelists: Mike Arpey, managing director of global investment bank Credit Suisse’s Asset Management Division and manager of the $73 million Indiana Future Fund for BioCrossroads, the state’s life sciences economicdevelopment initiative. Ron Ellis, co-founder, president and CEO of Lafayettebased Endocyte Inc., a biotechnology company focused on the treatment of cancer through receptor-targeted…

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Benicorp halts new sales to fix system woes: Complaints, losses mount at local health insurer

Locally based Benicorp Insurance Co. stunned health benefits professionals this month by distributing a simple memo. The small provider of group health insurance and benefits administration services announced a moratorium on new business until the company resolved problems with a new claims-processing system. “It’s highly unusual,” said Sheri Alexander, manager of employee benefits at Gregory & Appel, an Indianapolis insurance brokerage. More than 180 complaints have been filed against Benicorp since Jan. 1, according to records at the Indiana Department…

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NOTIONS: A property tax sigh of relief and a reform wish list

The nightstand clock reads 5:17. Too early to wake up. But hey, I’ve been tossing and turning for hours, so why lie here any longer, pretending? The cause for this night’s insomnia is money. Money for two kids starting college. Money to replace the Money to paint the house. Money for employees’ salaries. Money for employees’ parking. Money for employees’ retirement. Money for employees’ health insurance. Money for their families’ health insurance. Money to get the yellow highway paint off…

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