Company news

Indiana Health Information Exchange Inc., based in Indianapolis, added two more hospitals to its medical-record-swapping network. Logansport Memorial Hospital and Woodlawn Hospital have linked their electronic medical records systems to those of 79 other hospitals, long-term care facilities or health centers via the Exchange’s Indiana Network for Patient Care. The network handles about 3 million secure transactions of clinical data every day, including laboratory test results as well as medication and treatment histories. The goal of the exchange is to help doctors have the fullest information possible to choose the best therapy and to avoid drug interactions that could harm or even kill patients.

Marian University is a step closer to recruiting students for its new medical school after it won pre-accreditation status from the accreditation commission of the American Osteopathic Association. The initial step of approval had been delayed since December, when the commission requested that Marian put money it has raised to fund the school in a different kind of escrow fund format than Marian had done. That setback led Marian to plan to open the school in fall 2013 instead of fall 2012. It now hopes to receive provisional accreditation in September, after which it can begin recruiting students. “We decided that we would get a much higher quantity of the students we wanted to attract,” Dr. Paul Evans, dean of Marian’s college of osteopathic medicine, told IBJ in April. “We felt we would have more time to get the word out.” Because doctors of osteopathy go into primary care at higher rights than doctors of medicine, Marian hopes its new med school—only the second in Indiana—will help address a shortage of primary care doctors estimated to reach 2,000 by 2020.

Profit surged at CNO Financial Group Inc. in the first quarter, topping expectations of Wall Street analysts. The Carmel-based life and health insurer on Monday reported earnings of $54 million, up 59 percent from the same quarter a year earlier. The profit translated to 19 cents per diluted share, compared with 16 cents per share predicted by analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters. CNO enjoyed a big boost in profit at its Chicago-based Bankers Life unit because of higher interest-rate spreads on its annuity products, as well as fewer costs on long-term care policies it holds but no longer sells. Those results offset a dip in profits at CNO’s Carmel-based Washington National unit and flat profits at Philadelphia-based Colonial Penn. Revenue totaled $1.05 billion, up 4.7 percent and slightly ahead of analysts’ projections.