NoviaCare Clinics LLC, which operates on-site clinics for employers, is gradually pitching a new constellation of services, which it calls Total Patient Experience, to its 85 clients. The effort is one of a few initiatives to get employers to push deeper to address the causes of their workers’ health problems. Indianapolis-based NoviaCare is negotiating contracts with financial counselors, substance abuse counselors, mental health counselors and physical therapists who can be called in to its employer clinics to help address the underlying causes of patients’ health issues. So far, NoviaCare has signed up Batesville Tool & Dye and Hillenbrand Inc. to use the physical therapy portion of its service. NoviaCare hopes employers come to embrace its entire suite of services down the road.

The number of serious medical errors at hospitals and nursing homes fell to 100 last year from 107 in 2010, according to the Indiana State Health Department's 2011 Medical Errors report. According to a report by WTHR-TV Channel 13, the most common errors were severe bed sores, followed by surgery on the wrong body part, and foreign objects left after surgery. Indiana University Health’s three downtown hospitals reported 14 errors, the highest number in the state. But those hospitals also see more patients than any other in the report. Nearly a third of the state's hospitals reported at least one error.

Eli Lilly and Co. gave $12.4 million to the United Way, a slight uptick from its United Way gift from last year. The donation represents the contributions of Lilly’s U.S. employees and retirees, plus a matching gift from the Eli Lilly and Company Foundation. The funds will help support the United Way of Central Indiana as well as other local United Way chapters around the country. Also, the Lilly Foundation gave $200,000 to the American Red Cross to provide disaster relief to victims of superstorm Sandy.