- Home
- NEWS
- REGIONAL
- THIS WEEK'S PAPER
- BLOGS
- Multimedia
- OPINION
- A&E
- LISTS
- PEOPLE
- EVENTS
- Classifieds
- Subscribe
Welcome to the archives for NewsTalk, an IBJ blog published from November 2007 through December 2010.
Health care Blog Posts
Neurosis and dying: Now you know
August 19, 2009
Comments(2)Believe it or not, until Purdue University psychologist Daniel Mroczek tackled the question, no one had delved
into why people who freak out easily die earlier than mellow folks.
Experts have long known that stressed, neurotic folks kick the bucket earlier....
MoreShifting health benefits
July 21, 2009
Comments(12)The end of sweeping cuts in employee health benefits and the beginning of another trend is in sight, says
Mike Miles, vice president and senior benefits consultant at Gregory & Appel Insurance.
Employers have slashed benefits so deeply that the cuts...
MoreWishard's $754M request
July 13, 2009
Comments(50)The folks at Wishard Memorial Hospital have tough jobs. They care for the indigent, patch up more than their
share of gunshot wounds, and pay for most of it by billing government insurance programs, which arenâ??t
known
for lucrative reimbursements.
Ancient,...
MoreHealth care, Mayo Clinic style
May 18, 2009
Comment(1)Mention Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic and Clarian Health in the same breath, and you have a front-page story,
which is just what reporter J.K. Wall wrote in this weekâ??s IBJ.
Clarian is moving ahead with plans to mimic the...
MoreReport: Life sciences rocks
May 13, 2009
Comments(0)Indiana University handed the stateâ??s life sciences industry a nice love letter today in the form of a
study.
Pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and health care supplies were responsible for nearly a fourth of all jobs
created in the state...
MoreSwine flu overblown?
May 12, 2009
Comments(0)Swine flu dominated the news a couple of weeks ago as the virus spread out of Mexico and ultimately to
more than 30 countries. Indiana now has 22 cases.
However, once it became apparent the flu wouldnâ??t turn into a full-blown...
MoreWellPoint brass and rank-and-file
January 16, 2009
Comments(8)WellPoint unwittingly made an interesting point this morning when it announced it expects to save $24 million
by laying off 600 workers.
Those 600 workers in affect are being valued at about half the $47.5 million in total compensation...
MoreHospital end-game: get big
December 1, 2008
Comments(2)Hardly a month goes by without more news about hospital consolidations and partnerships.
Clarian Health, St. Vincent Health and Community Hospitals â?? all behemoths by Indiana standards, and all
with
head offices in Indianapolis â?? are scooping up local institutions in...
MoreBringing on the generic drugs
October 30, 2008
Comments(2)Times are tough enough that more people are beginning to switch to generic drugs to save money. Insurers
like Indianapolis-based WellPoint are playing a role, too, by pushing policy holders toward generics.
People also are splitting pills...
MoreConcerns of a state health official
October 29, 2008
Comments(0)One of the people responsible for ensuring we stay healthy is Dr. Judy Monroe, who directs the Indiana Department
of Health.
So, what keeps someone with a job like hers up at night?
A nightmare scenario is a new virus that quickly...
MoreAre WellPoint execs greedy?
September 19, 2008
Comments(11)Three activist groups dropped off a wallet and handbag crammed with play money at WellPointâ??s front door
this week to protest what the groups say are outrageous salaries pulled down by company executives.
The groups â?? Health Care for America Now,...
MoreSusan Bayh as a political liability
August 19, 2008
Comments(10)Barack Obama is expected to announce his vice presidential running mate any day now, and Evan Bayhâ??s name
is still thought to be on the short list.
The Indiana senator is viewed as a moderate who would counter Obamaâ??s liberal voting...
MoreImpressions of settling lawsuits
July 1, 2008
Comments(2)Eli Lilly and Co. settled its racial discrimination lawsuit yesterday for $64,000, ending a claim by an employee
who alleged the company fired her because she was disfigured through exposure to a blood pathogen.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission...
MoreBase closings and health care
June 30, 2008
Comments(3)Weâ??ve reached the season when companies start lining up employee health care coverage for the following
year.
Like prior years, companies will complain about skyrocketing costs and workers will complain about getting
fewer benefits. Study after study suggests both parties will...
MoreDo ads make you feel better?
June 23, 2008
Comments(2)Weâ??re increasingly bombarded with ads for health care products ranging from drugs for osteoporosis and restless
leg syndrome to knee replacements.
Zimmer went over the heads of doctors when it advertised its knee replacements designed specifically for women,
and...
MoreCharging employees to smoke
April 22, 2008
Comments(5)Whirlpool is struggling with its employees in Evansville as it tries to keep a lid on escalating health
care costs.
The company says it has caught a few dozen of them smoking. That wouldnâ??t be a problem had the...
MoreDrugmakers versus consumers
February 25, 2008
Comments(0)Congress and the courts long have tried to balance regulations to try to protect consumers while giving companies
space to operate.
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 to limit lawsuits against medical device makers if the Food...
MoreWellPoint yanks controversial letter
February 13, 2008
Comments(2)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...
MoreDo doctors make too much money?
February 12, 2008
Comments(7)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...
MoreAdding to the life science corridor
February 1, 2008
Comments(2)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...
MoreCovering the least of these
January 21, 2008
Comments(2)It isnâ??t often these days that we see deep, serious reporting on poverty that helps explain the problem
and makes us think.
In a recent interview, Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne argued that the subject has been edged out of
news...
MoreNon news is good news for Lilly
December 18, 2007
Comments(0)Eli Lilly and Co.â??s announcement this morning that President and Chief Operating Officer John Lechleiter
would
succeed CEO Sidney Taurel in April was a picture of smooth succession planning.
Lechleiterâ??s ascension had been expected for so long that the news was...
MoreClarian driven back in Muncie
November 29, 2007
Comment(1)Clarian Health wasnâ??t able to get its $75 million medical complex near Muncie off the ground partly because
doctors balked.
So much sentiment poured out in favor of the home team, Ball Memorial Hospital, that Clarian couldnâ??t sign
enough doctors to...
MoreAnthem loses disclosure fight
November 21, 2007
Comments(4)The Blue Cross and Blue Shield plan that Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. operates in Connecticut has backed
out of managing part of an insurance program rather than disclose the rates it pays doctors and its approach
to denying prescription drug payments....
MoreDoes WellPoint's Braly show trend?
November 19, 2007
Comment(1)Angela Braly, WellPointâ??s CEO, has not only made The Wall Street Journal â??s list of â??50 Women to
Watchâ??
but she hit the top spot.
Not so long ago Braly was largely unknown right here in WellPointâ??s headquarters city.
Does Bralyâ??s rise...
More
Back to TopCopyright © All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use.
Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing.
Additional Hosting & Delivery by
Saw the Indy Men's Chorus "Music of Gilbert & Sullivan" at the Indiana Historical Society on Sunday evening.
Temporary workers are not "tools" they are people and companies that keep large amounts of temp staff are cheating.
I miss having them around. I hope one of their stores is in the general Meridian/86th Street area. I will make good use of it.
The Fringe! Plus, the simple fact that there are so many local faves in such close proximity to each other.
I remenber, watching the toll road, being built, through South Bend, when I was 10 years old. I believe, back then that it was estimated, that the toll road, would be paid for in 20 years and then it would be free. I am now 71, what happened? Since the power is in the people, by that, I mean that, we the people are in total control of everything. I, suggest that no one ever use the toll road again, let it go broke. We the people can control the price of everything, from groceries to gas, if we would just do it. If we don't pay the asking price, the sellers will lower the price and if we wait awhile, they will lower the price to what we accept as reasonable. I would like to know why a highway like interstate 94, is so well maintained, a much better highway, than the toll road, but has no tolls. I would also like to know why, a sitting governor, with a term limit, maximum of eight years, can lease, public property, for 75 years. Even though I have transponders in both of my trucks and will not be affected by the increase, I have been and will contine to avoid using the toll road. I make many trips from northern Indiana to Chicago, every year, and I prefer the better highway, I94!