While the biggest hospital profit margins are made in the suburbs, the biggest pile of cash—$353 million in 2012—is made at the three downtown campuses run by Indiana University Health. In fact, those hospitals generated 32 percent of all operating gains posted by central Indiana hospitals in 2012.
Dr. Zachary Dodd, a spine surgeon, has joined the OrthoIndy practice of orthopedic surgeons and its Indiana Orthopaedic Hospital in Indianapolis. Dodd received his bachelor’s degree in biology from Wabash College. He did his medical training at the Indiana University School of Medicine.
John Cannon, credited with righting the ship at WellPoint Inc., was terminated without cause last week. The Indianapolis-based health insurer said Cannon will remain with the company until early March to help in the transition of his duties as general counsel and chief public affairs officer. Cannon, 60, served as WellPoint’s interim CEO from August 2012, when the company’s board ousted CEO Angela Braly under pressure from investors, until March 2013, when current CEO Joe Swedish took the helm. Cannon came to WellPoint from Philadelphia-based Cigna Corp., where he worked for 19 years, ultimately becoming deputy general counsel.
The Obama administration has been releasing more price and quality information, but it is coming in a rather useless form for patients. That’s a problem for the prospects of consumer-driven health care.
Dr. Paula Gustafson has been elected to serve as medical chief of staff for Major Health Partners in Shelbyville. Gustafson replaces Dr. Gust T. Spenos. Gustafson serves as a pediatric hospitalist at Major Hospital in Shelbyville.
OrthoIndy and the Indiana Orthopaedic Hospital have added Dr. Prasanth Nuthakki, a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist. Nuthakki holds a bachelor’s degree from Wright State University and earned his medical degree at Ross University School of Medicine in Dominica.
Jane Keller, CEO of the Indiana Orthopaedic Hospital and interim CEO of OrthoIndy, a large Indianapolis-based practice of orthopedic surgeons, has been named CEO of both companies. Keller took over as interim CEO of OrthoIndy in June 2012. Keller holds a nursing degree from Ball State University and an MBA from Butler University. She became chief nursing officer of the Indiana Orthopaedic Hospital in 2005 and was named CEO in 2006.
The Indianapolis-based Suburban Health Organization named Davis Lippincott as its new president, replacing Julie Carmichael, who recently left to become chief strategy officer at the St. Vincent Health hospital system. Lippincott previously was director of provider contracts and risk services for Suburban Health, a consortium of 10 hospital systems, including Indianapolis-based St. Vincent. Prior to joining Suburban Health, Lippincott worked as a financial analyst at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Indiana and was an analyst and director of the care-management organization at St. Vincent Health. Lippincott holds a bachelor's degree from Purdue University and is a certified public accountant.
A little extra Medicare money will flow to suburban hospitals in the Indianapolis area, based on recent patient satisfaction scores. But hospitals in the core of Indianapolis—and hospitals that do significant amounts of teaching medical students—may take a hit.
Michael Ryan was named vice president of sales at TriMedx, an Indianapolis-based health care technology management firm. Ryan previously worked for McKesson Medical-Surgical, VWR International and General Electric Corp.’s Healthcare IT division. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and also earned master's degrees in business administration and engineering management from Saint Martin’s College in Washington.
Jane Keller was named interim CEO of OrthoIndy after previous CEO John Martin decided to step down from that position to puruse other opportunities. Keller is CEO of the Indiana Orthopaedic Hospital, in which most OrthoIndy physicians have an ownership stake. Keller earned a degree in nursing from Ball State University and an MBA from Butler University.
Indianapolis may be reaching a saturation point for hospitals employing physicians, according to the latest report from the Center for Studying Health System Change.
OrthoIndy, the physician practice that owns the Indiana Orthopaedic Hospital, was able to open a new outpatient facility this spring by working around growth restrictions in the 2010 health care reform law. But its choices for further growth are much starker—which is why it’s lobbying to repeal that provision of the law.
Indiana University Health is now quietly unwinding the physician ownership of its hospitals in Carmel and Avon—which sparked loud controversy when they opened in 2004 and 2005.
In this new age of health care, ushered in by President Obama’s signing in March of a sweeping health care reform law, health care players are encouraged to remove the gloves if they want to reap the benefits of reform.
Indianapolis-area hospitals spent billions on construction in the past decade and increasingly tried to poach patients from one another’s territories. Yet last year—one of the worst economically in recent history—21 of 26 hospitals still were able to show operating profits.
Observers expect a lull with inpatient facilities for five years or more, but continued proliferation of outpatient
clinics and surgery centers.
Legal complaint alleges new $20 million facility in Greenwood breaches partnership deal struck in 2001.
St. Vincent Health has acquired a minority interest in Indiana Orthopaedic Hospital and is in discussions with OrthoIndy physicians
and other independent doctors to create a management company that would oversee orthopaedic and spine services at St. Vincent
Indianapolis. The health care providers announced the deal early Friday.
