Company news

Round 2 of the fight over a nursing home construction ban will commence in January when the Indiana General Assembly convenes for its new session. Sen. Pat Miller, R-Indianapolis, told IBJ she will introduce a bill that would institute a three-year “moratorium” on construction of skilled nursing facilities. The moratorium is widely favored by nursing home operators in Indiana, but is opposed by fast-growing developer Mainstreet and numerous construction businesses. The two sides in the debate this year spent more than $475,000 on lobbying and campaign donations during six-month periods running through the end of the session. Supporters of the moratorium spent $15,000 more than opponents. Compared to similar six-month periods running through the end of the 2012 session, supporters spent 24 percent more and opponents spent 52 percent more on lobbying and campaign donations. Both 2012 and 2014 were so-called short sessions; sessions in odd years are longer, budget-writing sessions. Certainly, not all of the contributions were made exclusively because of the moratorium. But it dominated the agenda of nursing home businesses and was big enough for the developers and construction groups that they had 11 lobbyists working on the issue.

Indianapolis-based Anthem Inc. has agreed to acquire Simply Healthcare Holdings Inc., which administers health benefits for Medicaid and Medicare recipients in Florida. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Simply Healthcare serves more than 170,000 Medicaid and more than 22,000 Medicare members. When Anthem adds those customers, it will have more than 500,000 Medicaid and Medicare customers in Florida, which represents less than 10 percent of the eligible Medicare and Medicaid population in that state. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2015 but will have no impact on Anthem’s 2015 earnings.

St. Vincent Anderson Regional Hospital will open a 45,000-square-foot surgery pavilion on Jan. 5. The pavilion has eight operating rooms, which are larger than older ORs, to accommodate more modern equipment. St. Vincent estimates it will use the pavilion to perform 11,000 surgeries per year, including joint replacements; eye surgeries; and ear, nose and throat procedures. The pavilion also has 23 patient areas.

Zimmer Holdings Inc. must pay Stryker Corp. $70 million—less than a third of what it was originally ordered to pay—for infringing patents on a surgical device to clean bones, a U.S. appeals court said Friday. According to Bloomberg News, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned a judge’s decision to triple the damage award, saying Warsaw-based Zimmer’s defense was not unreasonable over development of a pulsed lavage, a handheld surgical tool used to remove damaged tissue and clean bones during joint-replacement surgery. But the appeals court upheld a jury’s verdict that Zimmer infringed three of Stryker’s patents.

Eli Lilly and Co. resumed an on-again, off-again relationship with French pharmaceutical company Adocia, which is developing a faster-acting insulin than those currently on the market. According to the Associated Press, Indianapolis-based Lilly will pay $50 million up front, and could pay more than $570 million, if the insulin reaches key development and sales milestones. Lilly also could pay sales royalties and reimburse for some research and development costs. Lilly will also fund the costs of developing, manufacturing and selling the insulin, which is named BioChaperone Lispro. The ultra-rapid insulin aims to treat people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes by improving glucose levels during and after meals. According to Adocia’s website, it worked with Lilly from 2011 to 2013 to develop BioChaperone Lispro, but then the agreement ended.