American Health Network says its doctors in Kokomo, Russiaville and possibly other locations no longer will take new patients who are insured by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Indiana. The announcement was issued yesterday, the physician network said, after Anthem refused to increase reimbursement rates even as the cost of providing care is […]
There’s a $2 billion hole in Eli Lilly and Co.’s future. That’s roughly how much pretax profit Lilly derives each year from
its best-seller, Zyprexa, according to calculations by IBJ. And it’s how much black ink will start running off Lilly’s books
once Zyprexa’s U.S. and European patents expire in 2011.
CEO Jim Prieur is accentuating the positive after Conseco Inc.’s latest quarterly loss. But Wall Street investors concentrated on the negative this morning, punishing the Carmel-based company’s shares yet again. “We’ve been through some of the pain and now we’re coming out the other side,” Prieur said in an interview last night. “The gross number doesn’t […]
WellPoint Inc. and Angie’s List are both racing to launch doctor-rating services early next year. But Angie’s List is already
sour over Well-Point’s decision to partner with New York-based Zagat Survey LLC for its doctor-rating service, apparently
without talking to Angie’s List.
Analysts and investors turned sour on Eli Lilly and Co.’s stock overnight after the Indianapolis drug maker stopped enrolling patients in two small safety trials of a potential blockbuster drug. Lilly shares opened today at $52.15, down $3.74 or 6.6 percent from their close yesterday. Lilly announced yesterday after markets closed that it had temporarily […]
WellPoint Inc. officials expect to win about 50,000 new customers from M-Plan Inc. as part of an endorsement deal the two health plans signed in September, WellPoint CEO Angela F. Braly said in a conference call with analysts this morning. WellPoint’s Indiana subsidiary, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, will pay a commission to M-Plan for […]
WellPoint Inc. posted solid profit growth and modest customer growth in the third quarter, the Indianapolis-based health insurer announced this morning. Net income was $868 million, or $1.45 per share, a 7-percent increase over the same quarter last year. WellPoint also reversed a decline in membership from its second quarter, posting a gain of 38,000 […]
Fifteen senior executives have left WellPoint Inc. since November 2004, when the giant health insurer formed through Indianapolis-based
Anthem Inc.’s $16.5 billion acquisition of California-based WellPoint Health Networks Inc. The merger made many of them rich,
work at WellPoint was grueling, and personal commitments called. So they moved on.
Here’s a new strategy to control spiraling drug prices: multilevel marketing. That’s right. A new company called NuLegacy International LLC is deploying the tactics of Amway Corp. to give Americans-particularly those without health insurance-a break on prescription drug costs. The Texas-based company’s key selling points? Its cards are free. And they’re good for potentially large discounts off the full price of prescription drugs. Drugstores, in theory, get a higher volume of customers because of the discounts. “The timing is now,”…
Eli Lilly and Co. today said it would plow ahead with plans to develop an inhaled insulin product even as competitor Pfizer Inc. announced it would stop making its poor-selling Exubera version. Lilly President and Chief Operating Officer made the comment while discussing the Indianapolis drugmaker’s third-quarter results. Profit was up 6 percent, to $926.3 […]
Spending on health care is rising faster in Indiana than it is across the country. Yet the state’s job and income growth continue
to lag national norms.
Why pay to get employees healthy if they’re likely to leave in a few years? That used to be the killer question for wellness and disease management programs. But that attitude is changing. And employers like Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana are a good example of why. The not-for-profit, whose main mission is to help workers make a transition into other jobs, has enjoyed significant savings on health care costs even as it has ditched the employee-paid deductible on its…
Marsh Supermarkets Inc.’s decision to offer its employees a health reimbursement account as their only health insurance option
this year has captured the attention of local employers and benefits consultants.
Talk about an exodus. The five highest-paid executives at WellPoint Inc. as recently as five months ago will all have left the Indianapolis-based health insurer a year from now. Today, John Watts Jr. announced he would resign as CEO of commercial and consumer business effective Oct. 15 and leave the company by year’s end. Also […]
Indiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Atterholt says his philosophy toward consumer protection is to be tough on the “bad actors,”
but friendly toward the “good actors”;–in part, so he can call for their help when needed.Not everyone is convinced, however,
because Atterholt has done so much in his 2-1/2 years as commissioner to promote industry causes.
When Dane Hudson sold his health benefits consultancy on Aug. 1, he hoped it was only his first of many mergers. Hudson, the founder of Strategic Health Plans Corp. in Carmel, sold his company to Illinois-based Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. for an undisclosed amount. Gallagher, a quiet company that is one of the nation’s largest health benefits firms, wants Hudson to buy up another three or four health benefits brokers in the next five years. Hudson also said he’ll…
Matt Gutwein and Lisa Harris drive into work each morning knowing their hospital, Wishard Health Services, will lose half
a million dollars that day. But they’re OK with that. In fact, they’re laying a plan to keep it up for the next 20 years.
Looming large on their to-do list: building a new hospital.
Plans abound to bring new health care facilities to Brownsburg, one of Hendricks County’s fast-growing towns. Some familiar
local names, such as OrthoIndy, St. Vincent Health and Clarian Health Partners, all have claims to land in the Brownsburg
area.
Good news. The shortage of hospital nurses isn’t quite as bad as it used to be. In the last five years, Indianapolis’ hospitals have chipped away quietly at the gap in nurse staffing that seized local and national attention earlier this decade. To achieve these modest declines in what hospitals call their nursing vacancy rates, they have revamped their recruitment and retention efforts at a time when nurses have more options outside hospitals than ever before. Nursing schools are working…
Alan G. Symons’ company, Fast Tek Group LLC, lost a court fight with Fishers-based competitor Product Action International
LLC in February. So Symons pushed Fast Tek into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June–a move that clears the way for a
suitor to buy the assets without being saddled with the liabilities.
