One in five medical claims is processed inaccurately by commercial health insurers—and a unit of Indianapolis-based
WellPoint Inc. does even worse—often leaving physicians shortchanged, according to the nation's largest doctor's
group.
WellPoint plans to build a network of primary care doctors and specialists who will be available any time to consult with
patients.
The Indianapolis-based insurer’s first-quarter spending is 16 percent more than it spent in the same quarter last year and
in the fourth quarter of 2009.
WellPoint Inc.'s announcement of comparative effectiveness research guidelines last week marks a new era for U.S. drugmakers.
The Indianapolis-based health insurer will use studies that compare the effectiveness of one drug against another as a complement
to typical clinical trial research that compares a drug against a placebo sugar pill.
Dr. Rob Stone wants the giant health insurer to convert to not-for-profit status and put him, an advocate of national health
insurance, on the company’s board.
Influential investor sold off all 1.3 million shares in the Indianapolis-based health insurer during the first quarter.
Board member William “Bucky” Bush, uncle of former President George W. Bush, appeared OK after a shortened meeting in which
shareholders approved
a “say-on-pay” proposal. Protesters gathered outside WellPoint’s headquarters after the meeting.
Joe Guzman is a co-founder of Indianapolis-based Ascend USA, the new trade adopted after Guzman merged his
benefits brokerage, Benefits Strategies Inc., with benefits business Steven Goodin. The eight-person firm expects to hire
as many 15 new employees in the next year. Those workers will help Ascend diversify from health benefits into brokering commercial
insurance products.
As physician mergers increase in Indianapolis, a new study has determined that quality at large, multispecialty practices is at
least 5 percent higher and costs are 3.6 percent lower than at small group practices.
The U.S. health overhaul’s mandate that insurers spend 80 percent of premiums on medical care may
need to be loosened
to keep companies from quitting the market for people who buy coverage on their own, state regulators said.
The health law passed by Congress in March will force insurers like WellPoint to give rebates to customers next year if the
companies don’t meet the medical-spending minimums.
CEO of Indianapolis-based health insurer wrote to Obama on Sunday to rebut the president’s criticism that WellPoint seeks
out breast cancer patients to cancel their policies.
The lawsuit filed this week in Marion Superior Court claims Clarian Health charges uninsured patients—or those receiving
treatments not covered by their insurance—unreasonably high prices.
The Obama administration has asked state regulators to double-check premium hikes from Indianapolis-based health insurer WellPoint
Inc. after an audit found problems with proposed California increases.
Anthem Blue Cross withdrew plans to raise health insurance rates for Californians by as much as 39 percent after an independent
audit determined the company’s justification for raising premiums was based on flawed data.
The Indianapolis-based health insurer was helped in first quarter by a mild flu season, but it now expects to lose nearly
700,000 customers by year end.
Dr. Stanley Adkins is chief medical officer of Indianapolis-based AmeriVeriCR, a startup that uses software to review medical
claims for errors. With health care reform and a new, larger set of
diagnosis codes phasing in over the next few years, AmeriVeri is betting that demand for its service will increase.
Indianapolis-based health insurer trades jabs with U.S. health secretary after Reuters story claims insurer deliberately cancels
coverage for breast cancer patients.
In January, Anthem Blue Cross notified many individual policyholders that their rates would rise as much as 39 percent March
1. After a public outcry, the company announced a two-month delay. Now that is on hold, too.
Indianapolis-based WellPoint “reclassified” more than half a billion dollars of administrative expenses as medical
expenses when it was defining its medical-loss ratio, according to a report released by U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller’s
office.
