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In a bid to make itself more efficient, Indiana University Health announced Friday that it will spend roughly $1 billion to expand its Methodist and Riley campuses, then close its University facility. During the five- to seven-year process, University Hospital will remain open to patients, just as it is now, according to IU Health officials. And after clinical services move to Methodist, it is possible University could be converted to a post-acute or rehabilitation hospital. The expanded Methodist campus will include space for classrooms and faculty offices for the Indiana University School of Medicine. IU Health intends to shift all downtown obstetrical and newborn care to its Riley Hospital for Children. IU Health, the largest hospital system in Indiana by revenue, needed to consolidate its downtown hospitals because its number of patients per day has declined since 1964. Those declines were accelerated by the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which put financial pressure on hospitals to reduce costs—mainly by keeping patients out of the hospital. IU Health officials now anticipate as much as two years of planning to figure out the details.

After an Elkhart couple with an autistic son sued Indianapolis-based health insurer Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield this month, autism families around the state have started a campaign to get Anthem to change its policy for covering therapy for school-age children. Two central Indiana residents, both with autistic children, have started a private Facebook page, IndianaFightForABA, which nearly 1,400 people have joined so far. They have gathered more than 1,000 supporters for an online petition on Change.org, and they are planning to stage a rally in May on Monument Circle, in front of Anthem’s corporate headquarters. Filed April 9 by Elkhart residents Chester and Kathi Pierce on behalf of their autistic son, Wes, the lawsuit seeks class-action status to challenge Anthem’s policy of denying coverage for autism therapy during school hours. That 3-year-old policy has forced some families to change insurers and some to go with less of the therapy they say helps their children. The Pierces’ lawsuit claims Anthem is violating the mandate for autism coverage passed by the Indiana General Assembly in 2001. Tony Felts, a spokesman for Anthem, declined to discuss the lawsuit. But he said the health insurer—by far the largest in Indiana—is committed to getting autistic children the right treatments.

First-quarter profits plunged at Eli Lilly and Co., but the company’s results were far better than Wall Street expected. The Indianapolis-based drugmaker earned $529.5 million in the three months ended March 31, which was down nearly $200 million, or 27 percent, from the same quarter a year ago. Earnings per share were 50 cents, down from 68 cents a year ago. But excluding one-time charges, most of them related to Lilly’s recent $5.4 billion acquisition of Novartis Animal Health, the company earned 87 cents per share in profit. On that basis, analysts were expecting 77 cents per share, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters. Lilly’s overall revenue in the quarter fell 1 percent, to $4.64 billion, due partly to a stronger dollar that dampened sales results in foreign countries and partly to the August 2014 expiration of European patents for Cymbalta, Lilly’s former best-selling drug. Also, Lilly saw U.S. patents expire in March 2014 on its former blockbuster drug Evista.