Roche Diagnostics is sharing in the publicity this afternoon as the journal Science releases a study that identifies a virus involved in the sudden death of billions of honeybees. About half a dozen employees of Roche subsidiary 454 Life Sciences collaborated with researchers at Columbia University to conduct the study, which was posted on the […]
Don’t expect OneAmerica Financial Partners Inc.’s purchase of a $700 million annuity portfolio last month to be its last big-ticket buy. The Indianapolis-based insurance holding company says its executives and heads of its various product lines are constantly on the prowl for acquisitions. But don’t hold your breath for the company’s next deal. Its purchase of annuities from Iowa-based Transamerica Life Insurance Co., announced July 24, took two years to come together. So did its previous acquisition, the 2005 purchase…
But that’s changing now, as the orthopedics juggernaut in Warsaw has spawned another company. Formed a year ago, OrthoPediatrics in October will launch its first 10 orthopedic implants designed especially for kids. The startup hopes to do research at the offices and hospital of OrthoIndy, a group of orthopedic physicians in Indianapolis. OrthoPediatrics’ niche is one that has been shunned by the larger orthopedic implant companies based in the northern Indiana city-Zimmer Holdings Corp., Biomet Inc. and DePuy Orthopaedics Inc….
When the Department of Justice slapped St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital with a $1.2 million fine last month, it stunned local
medical professionals. But the issue behind St. Vincent’s troubles is no surprise. The diversion of prescriptions drugs from
the medical field into recreational use is a widespread problem in Indiana and the nation.
A Marion County judge has appointed the Indiana Department of Insurance as receiver of Benicorp Insurance Co. to protect the ailing company’s 52,000 policyholders, the department announced today. Marion Circuit Judge Theodore Sosin appointed Insurance Commissioner Jim Atterholt to oversee the transfer of Benicorp customers to Minnesota-based UnitedHealthcare and, potentially, to liquidate Benicorp’s assets. Indianapolis-based Benicorp has […]
Conseco Inc.’s loss widened to $64.5 million in its second quarter-the fruit of pouring more money into its hemorrhaging long-term care reserves and into a class-action lawsuit settlement over life insurance policies. The Carmel-based life and health insurer lost 38 cents per diluted common share, compared with a 21-cent per share loss in the second […]
A team inside WellPoint Inc. that created a successful product for the 20-somethings is hard at work trying to create a similar
winner among Hispanics. A roughly 25-person team has researched Hispanics for two years and now is using its findings to establish
a separate brand name, a new Web site and grass-roots techniques to reach Hispanics.
Local startup My Health Care Manager has found a faster way to get its elder-care message out. It has persuaded five local employers to direct their workers to My Health Care Manager if they need help finding and coordinating care for one of their aging parents. As of Aug. 1, law firms Barnes & Thornburg, Ice Miller and Hall Render Killian Heath & Lyman, accounting firm Katz Sapper & Miller and the Indianapolis office of the Publicis advertising firm all…
Carmel-based Sagamore Health Network will keep its name even thought it has been acquired by Cigna Corp. The Philadelphia-based health insurer said its acquisition of Sagamore, Indiana’s third-largest managed care organization, will make it much more competitive in the state. In Indiana, Anthem Insurance Co. dominates the health insurance market. “It also adds significantly to […]
Cigna Corp.’s purchase of Sagamore Health Network should make it a more formidable competitor to Indianapolis-based Anthem Insurance Co. in the central Indiana health insurance market. And that could be a good thing for employers. That’s the initial reaction of one local health care expert after Philadelphia-based Cigna announced this morning it is acquiring Carmel-based […]
Bob Brody, CEO of St. Francis Hospital and Health Centers, is spearheading an emerging group of central Indiana health reformers
who want to start a bottom-up process to develop alternative solutions to the state’s–and possibly the nation’s–health care
crisis.
Investors whacked WellPoint Inc. stock this morning after the Indianapolis-based health insurer tamped down expectations for customer growth. WellPoint said in its second-quarter earnings report that it lost 108,000 customers in the three months ended June 30 and now expects to add 400,000 fewer customers than it predicted in April. Its shares dropped more than […]
Investors embraced Eli Lilly and Co. stock this morning after the company’s second-quarter profit beat analysts’ expectations. Shares of the Indianapolis-based drugmaker jumped as much as $1.50, or 2.6 percent. Lilly’s stock price has risen about 13 percent this year. Lilly enjoyed strong growth by its antidepressant Cymbalta and its Cialis impotence treatment. Also, two […]
Not yet a believer in health savings accounts? Not to worry. The Indiana Department of Insurance is here to convert you. The insurance regulatory arm of Gov. Mitch Daniels’ administration is staging a symposium Aug. 3 to educate employers on the benefits of health savings accounts. Employers are increasingly pairing the tax-favored accounts, stuffed with a couple thousand dollars for each employee, with high-deductible health insurance as a lower-cost alternative to health plans with co-pays. Most employers also pay for…
Locally based Benicorp Insurance Co. stunned health benefits professionals this month by distributing a simple memo. The small provider of group health insurance and benefits administration services announced a moratorium on new business until the company resolved problems with a new claims-processing system. “It’s highly unusual,” said Sheri Alexander, manager of employee benefits at Gregory & Appel, an Indianapolis insurance brokerage. More than 180 complaints have been filed against Benicorp since Jan. 1, according to records at the Indiana Department…
Regenstrief Institute continues to fine-tune a medical-records system that many think could someday become a national model The Regenstrief Institute is a racing team. Only instead of drivers and grease monkeys, the Indianapolis-based medical research group has doctors and computer geeks. And instead of a race car, Regenstrief runs a massive computer database with 35 years of medical records from Indianapolis-area patients. But Regenstrief’s mission is still all about speed. The not-for-profit is driving to discover better ways to care…
The city’s largest hospital system will try its hand at high-stakes investing. Clarian Health Partners is forming its own
venture-capital fund, called Clarian Health Ventures, to invest in fast-growing companies and finance the commercialization
of research conducted at Clarian or by its staff.
Up to 150 of Conseco Inc.’s 2,300 Carmel employees could see their jobs transferred to a Minnesota company under a plan being considered by company executives. Transferred employees would continue to work either out of Conseco’s offices or nearby. Conseco announced Thursday afternoon that it might shift a call center and some claims for its […]
Aggressive expansion plans by Indianapolis’ three biggest hospital systems have pushed Greenfield-based Hancock Regional Hospital
to change up its plans to build an outpost of physician offices in northwest Hancock County, near the borders of Marion and
Hamilton counties. But Hancock Regional isn’t backing down.
Small businesses should be able to purchase new kinds of property, casualty and Worker’s Compensation insurance quicker than in the past under a new state law that delays regulatory oversight of new products. But some business owners say the law puts them at risk of buying insurance that includes surprise clauses — since regulators won’t be checking them in advance. The law rolls back regulations that slowed insurance sales in Indiana by effectively requiring insurers to clear new products with…
