Patients’ anger over high deductibles and high drug prices is spurring presidential candidates to respond—even as the actual prices of health care services are growing slower than at any time since 1990.
Bryan Mills, CEO of the Community Health Network hospital system, said a recent pickup in health care construction could slow down if providers can successfully care for patients remotely via the Internet and phones.
Since President Obama’s health law passed in 2010, deductibles on employer health plans have risen nearly seven times faster than wages and nearly three times faster than premiums, leaving consumers exposed more than ever to the sky-high cost of care.
When hospitals employ doctors—which is now the norm in central Indiana—more of those doctors’ patients end up going to hospitals with higher costs and poorer quality, according to a new study.
CEO Bryan Mills has set a goal to make 75 percent of revenue—or $1.5 billion a year—be covered by value-based contracts—which means Community would be rewarded for keeping patients out of the hospital. A new venture is Mills’ strategy to get there.
More paying customers helped Community Health Network pull in $47 million in second-quarter profits, a story being repeated at not-for-profit hospitals around the country as Obamacare has boosted the number of insured customers to unprecedented highs.
Strand Diagnostics lost a key court battle on July 30 when a federal judge in Indianapolis granted summary judgment in favor of the Medicare program, which has refused to reimburse Strand for its test since 2012.
With this year’s bill estimated at $37 billion and counting, perhaps the sheer cost of cleaning up after IT security breaches at health care organizations will spur the industry to find a bandage for its hemorrhaging computer systems.
Aetna Inc. agreed to buy Humana Inc., the second-largest provider of private Medicare insurance, for $37 billion in cash and stock to broaden its health-care coverage.
For at least 20 years, Republicans have been pushing for giving tax credits to help individuals buy health insurance. The Supreme Court’s latest Obamacare ruling does Republicans the favor of preserving them.
But hospitals’ list prices in Indiana are more than three times what the federal Medicare program pays.
If Anthem merged with Cigna Corp. it would create a behemoth with even greater negotiating power, which could benefit employers but hurt doctors and hospitals.
Wall Street analysts say a purchase of Louisville-based Humana Inc., which reportedly has put itself up for sale, would by Indianapolis-based Anthem. An Anthem-Humana marriage would be the biggest merger in the history of U.S. health insurance.
The individual hospital campuses around Indianapolis saw their collective revenue rise 8 percent and their collective operating profits rise 22 percent from from 2011 to 2013. That’s solid, just not stellar, growth.
In Indiana, Anthem has struck accountable care organization deals with 14 health care provider groups and signed up nearly 2,900 primary care providers to its medical home program. And it’s pushing for more in the future.
For employer health plans, diabetics generate $10,000 more per year in medical bills than non-diabetics. That means the rise in the prevalence of diabetes over the past 25 years is costing Hoosiers an extra $2.6 billion annually.
Anthem Inc.’s brand has taken a noticeable hit since a massive data breach earlier this year, but the impact was blunted by positive perceptions of the way the company handled the breach.
Things got quiet after a wave of hospital systems' acquiring physician practices swept through central Indiana from 2008 to 2011. But a new wave could start now that Congress passed the "doc fix" last week.
A recent ranking of health care value in all 50 states puts Indiana in the basement. By my rough figures, working-age Hoosiers are paying a couple billions dollars extra for their health care.
The Senate gave final congressional approval late Tuesday to the $214 billion bipartisan measure, which rewrites how Medicare pays doctors for treating over 50 million elderly people.
