Health Care Costs

Study rebuts hospitals' argument on Medicare, rising costs

May 13, 2013
Rather than raising prices on private health insurers to make up for inadequate payments from the government, hospitals across the country have been raising prices just because they can, according to a new study.
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Medical finance driving major changes in health care marketplace

April 6, 2013
J.K. Wall
Brian and Emily Kahn had virtually identical physical therapy. He paid much more than she did. Why? Because of where the therapy took place.
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IU Health to chop $1 billion off costsRestricted Content

April 6, 2013
J.K. Wall
Even though Obamacare likely will expand health insurance coverage to an extra 500,000 Hoosiers over the next few years, IU Health expects per-patient reimbursements to fall as the federal government, employers and patients all push back on sky-high health care costs.
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MCDONALD: Groups making headway attacking health problemsRestricted Content

April 6, 2013
Bob McDonald
The statistics we hear so often are clear. As a community, we are not in an enviable place. We smoke more, exercise less and weigh more than the national average, resulting in more diabetes than average.
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Indiana's health care transparency laws get failing grade

April 1, 2013
J.K. Wall
Indiana’s laws requiring hospitals to release price information are woefully inadequate, according to a report by two health insurance reform groups. Indiana was among 29 states to receive an "F" grade.
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Senate advances telemedicine payments

March 4, 2013
J.K. Wall
The Indiana Senate voted unanimously last week to require the Indiana Medicaid program to pay home health agencies, rural health clinics and federally qualified health centers for doing medical consultations, diagnoses and monitoring using videoconferencing, telephones or computers.
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Sequester could sap $200M from Indiana health care providers

March 1, 2013
J.K. Wall
The sequestration plan kicking in Friday will chop Medicare payments to hospitals, doctors and nursing homes by 2 percent, beginning April 1. One study estimates that the cuts could result in 10,000-plus job losses in Indiana alone.
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Legislators struggle to nail down cost of health care expansion

February 24, 2013
Associated Press
The cost of health care for an additional 400,000 low income residents is something nobody in the Indiana Statehouse seems to be able to agree upon this year, even as the crucial decision about whether to expand Medicaid bears down on lawmakers midway through their annual session.
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WellPoint shares tumble on surprising CEO hire

February 13, 2013
J.K. Wall
The Indianapolis-based health insurer saw its stock tumble as much as 4.8 percent Wednesday morning after it unexpectedly named career hospital executive Joe Swedish to be its next CEO.
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Q&A

February 11, 2013
J.K. Wall

Don Kelso is executive director of the Indiana Rural Health Association. The trade group is trying to help its members navigate the changes coming from health care reform and the financial pressures being created by federal budget cuts. The association recently launched a service for its members called SuiteStats, which is data-management software to help hospital executives identify areas ripe for cost-cutting.

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Pressure rises on lawmakers to expand Medicaid

February 11, 2013
J.K. Wall

Up until now, Gov. Mike Pence and his fellow Republicans in the Legislature have been playing a game of poker with the Obama administration over a potential expansion of Indiana’s Medicaid program. But all of a sudden, Indiana’s hand just got quite a bit weaker.

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Community taps Walgreens for health reform help

February 4, 2013
J.K. Wall
In the era of health care reform, hospitals will face two new challenges: They will need to run higher-volume, lower-margin businesses, and they’ll be on the hook financially for what patients do even when they’re not receiving health care. Community Health Network’s new partnership with Walgreens’ Take Care Clinics is designed to help address both issues.
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Health insurance changes daunting for Indiana employersRestricted Content

January 19, 2013
Scott Olson
A portion of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requiring companies in 2014 to begin offering health insurance to more workers is causing a lot of anxiety.
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Anthem pulling out of Quality Health First

January 14, 2013
J.K. Wall
Since 2009, Indianapolis-based Anthem has doled out $14.5 million in bonuses to physicians based on their scores in quality reports generated by Quality Health First.
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Franciscan, American Health join new ACOs

January 14, 2013
J.K. Wall
Franciscan St. Francis Health and American Health Network continue to get deeper into the accountable care organization concept being promoted by the federal Medicare program under the 2010 health reform law.
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Fiscal cliff deal threatens Indiana co-op health plan

January 7, 2013
J.K. Wall
Last week’s fiscal cliff bargain in Congress dealt a potentially fatal blow to a new health insurance plan, called Remedy Indiana, that was set to launch this year.
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Health care pricing service comes to Indy

December 17, 2012
J.K. Wall

Chicago-based OkCopay Inc. posts prices offered by Indianapolis health care providers, many of which have agreed to give cash-paying patients a price roughly equivalent to those charged to insured customers. The site also includes pricing information from health care providers that do not give cash-paying patients an additional break.

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About 1 in 10 firms plans to drop coverage

December 3, 2012
J.K. Wall
Even as the rising cost of medical benefits has moderated, 11 percent of Indiana employers with 10 or more workers say they will terminate their medical coverage within the next five years, according to the latest survey from the benefits consulting firm Mercer.
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Medicaid expansion could cost $54M a year

November 26, 2012
J.K. Wall

A new set of projections released Monday estimates that expanding Medicaid coverage as called for in President Obama’s 2010 health reform law would cost the state government less than $54 million per year on average over the next decade—far lower than projections issued by the actuarial firm hired by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels’ administration.

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Assessment fees benefit Indy hospitals

November 26, 2012
J.K. Wall
IU Health and Community enjoyed net gains of $267 million and $23 million, respectively, from the hospital assessment fee program during the fiscal year ended June 30.
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Indiana employers desperate to improve workers' personal habitsRestricted Content

November 24, 2012
J.K. Wall
Skyrocketing health care costs prompt search for new ways to improve lifestyle choices.
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Deal provides peek at Anthem's narrow networks

November 5, 2012
J.K. Wall
A new agreement in Wisconsin provides a glimpse of the kind of “narrow network” arrangements that Indianapolis-based Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield might attempt in Indiana.
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Study: Newly insured to be poorer, less educated

October 8, 2012
J.K. Wall
New health insurance coverage created by the 2010 health reform law will attract a lower-income, less-educated and more diverse set of customers than the insurance markets that exist today, according to a new analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers. And that could create challenges for doctors and hospitals trying to care for those patients.
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IBJ Health Care Power Breakfast - transcript

October 2, 2012
Indianapolis Business Journal convened a panel of experts at its Health Care & Benefits Power Breakfast on Sept. 28 to talk about industry issues including Medicaid, on-site health clinics and narrow networks. Panelists included Robert J. Brody, president and CEO of Franciscan St. Francis Health; Michael N. Heaton, partner, Katz Sapper & Miller; Dr. Gregory N. Larkin, commissioner, Indiana State Department of Health; Vicki F. Perry, president, CEO, Advantage Health Solutions Inc.; Dr. Ram Yeleti, president, Community Physician Network. The following is the unedited transcript of the discussion.
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Will Medicaid expansion actually work?

October 1, 2012
J.K. Wall
It would be “absurd” and a “travesty” for Indiana not to expand its Medicaid program, according to two local hospital officials. And yet other health care leaders do not expect expanded Medicaid coverage to provide nearly as much help to uninsured Hoosiers as hoped.
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  1. In my opinion the estridge companies are crooks. They filed bankruptcy on their 'track housing' side of the business two weeks before they closed on one of my clients' homes. When my client first interviewed Estridge as a builder 6 months before, they specifically ASKED about the solvency of their business, knowing that some builders were struggling. Estridge truly misrepresented their financial situation at that time. I suppose I am more unhappy with the whole system than I am with the builder because what the heck==you can file bankruptcy on 'track homes' but still keep building and make money off of 'custom built' homes??? How ridiculous! They are all homes. How can a company be allowed to bilk thousands of dollars from their subcontractors but still be allowed to build houses?? they should have been made to pay back all their unpaid contractors before being allowed to profit from building any more houses! This alone makes them and the system crooks in my eyes. I would never build an estridge home and I would not recommend for my clients either. If they were truly 'bankrupt' how could they afford to keep building homes anyway??? The whole system needs fixed.

  2. I live a couple blocks east of the Angie's campus and my house is assessed for ~$160,000. If I could get that amount, let alone $384,000 (a 140% bonus), I'd sell in a minute. Either Angie's stockholders just got fleeced, or Angie's is getting about a 58% discount on their property taxes, if these properties are actually worth what they paid Mr. Oesterle for them. Which do you think is the case?

  3. Perhaps the IMA board is really to blame! They agreed to hire Charles. They can't seemingly find donors among themselves, or bring in new blood that will support the museums operating budget with an expanded museum and money to provide curators with something to do (ie buy art). The headlines of disarray at the museum and mass firings are hurting the reputation of the museum for some time to come. If people on the board had misgivings, perhaps they shpuld have more forcefully opposed efforts that they have seemingly been unable to fund, like expansion and the costs it has created!

  4. See, I told u Indyman and Dipsicle....this 8 days is overkill. It's barely worth a weekend....great job Tony George! Your dream has been fulfilled....he fans want the I r l back. Thats how good it was.....and that sucked.

  5. I have been in training for a short time now but right off I can see that safety and quality are the number one issues, my experience as of late has been a positive one, the employees along with Jeff the plant manager and the operation supervisor as well as the engineers are a highly motivated group of people, what an asset for the area to have and for company's in need of a quality metal products.

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