With the number of applications to Marian’s College of Osteopathic Medicine running twice as high as initially expected, school leaders say they are confident Marian can help reduce a looming physician shortage in Indiana.
It looks like Eli Lilly and Co. finally has a drug that can replace its former stars Zyprexa and Cymbalta. The most bullish analysts think Jardiance can surpass those $5 billion-a-year blockbusters.
When hospitals employ doctors—which is now the norm in central Indiana—more of those doctors’ patients end up going to hospitals with higher costs and poorer quality, according to a new study.
CEO Bryan Mills has set a goal to make 75 percent of revenue—or $1.5 billion a year—be covered by value-based contracts—which means Community would be rewarded for keeping patients out of the hospital. A new venture is Mills’ strategy to get there.
Marian University expects the deans of both its medical and nursing schools to retire in the next two years. So, the small Catholic school is launching a search for replacements.
More paying customers helped Community Health Network pull in $47 million in second-quarter profits, a story being repeated at not-for-profit hospitals around the country as Obamacare has boosted the number of insured customers to unprecedented highs.
The plan by the Medicare program to require hospitals in Indianapolis and 74 other cities to accept one payment for joint replacement surgeries is a huge step in fixing the crazy prices and spending growth in health care.
Indiana's life sciences companies are spending four times more on medical research than the state's hospitals, doctors and univerities are receiving from such companies for research projects. That means Indiana is missing out on more than $80 million a year.
It took $394,000 to rank in the top 1 percent of U.S. earners in 2013. And more than 100 of the Indiana contingent in that exclusive club were physicians employed by one of the four major hospital systems that operate in the Indianapolis area.
Since 2008, the Department of Ophthalmology at the Indiana University School of Medicine has seen nine physicians depart—nearly half its clinicians who care for adult patients—and one more is now trying to leave. If a 10th physician departs, the exodus would leave the department with only 10 physicians treating adult patients, and many of those doing so only part time. The doctors have left because of a mix of disputes about pay and violations of patient privacy, according to multiple people with knowledge of the situation. Dr. Louis Cantor, department chairman, called the departures “normal faculty attrition” as the medical school and the Indiana University Health hospital system merge their physicians into one entity. He said the school is working to hire replacements.
Verve Health, an Indianapolis-based company that provides wellness and health clinics to employers, has begun pitching integrative medicine as an option to employers. Integrative medicine tries to improve people’s health with food, supplements, fitness and alternative medicine before trying prescription drugs. Verve Health is the new name adopted by RepuCare OnSite LLC to reflect its July 2014 acquisition of wellness provider Spectrum Health Systems Inc. Verve is trying to raise $2 million to $4 million to take its services to more clients and more states. If its plans succeed, Verve could nearly triple its workforce over the next year—from 65 to as many as 180. Verve operates five employer clinics, including two for Celadon Trucking, and another for the city of Kokomo and Howard County governments. It also provides wellness services to 50 employers.
Over the past three years, 116 Indiana hospitals cut out nearly 4,700 patient harms, saving $22.3 million, as part of a coordinated effort to make hospitals safer and prevent patients from having to come back. The three-year program, called Partnership for Patients, was part of a national effort funded by the Affordable Care Act. According to the Indiana Hospital Association, nearly half the savings came from preventing 1,254 readmissions of patients over three years. Another $2 million was saved by preventing 110 venous thromboembolisms. Also, the hospitals reduced early-elective baby deliveries 76 percent. And they worked to reduce infections caused by catheters and central lines, falls, severe bed sores, surgical site infections, ventilator-associated harm, obstetric harm and giving patients wrong medications or drugs that conflicted with other medications.
Even though he declined to sign it, Gov. Mike Pence will allow a three-year moratorium on construction of additional nursing homes to become law. Senate Enrolled Act 460 prevents construction of new skilled-nursing facilities, unless a facility replaces an old facility, after March 1, 2016, in any county with less than 90-percent occupancy in its existing nursing homes. “As a strong advocate of free-market economics, I hesitate to support any restriction on commerce, but in an industry that derives 85 percent of its revenue from state and federal sources, we must always consider the impact of our policies on the cost to taxpayers,” Pence said in a statement May 8. “A three-year pause on new-facility construction will give our state and the long-term-care industry the opportunity to achieve a better balance between institutional care and home- and community-based services while we engage in a much-needed discussion about reforms to our current Medicaid reimbursement formula.”
Pence signed a bill into law May 5 giving civil immunity to volunteer health care providers, according to The Statehouse File. The new law also provides immunity to licensed medical professionals who volunteer their services at no cost to taxpayers or patients. It applies to physician assistants, advanced nurses, podiatrists and optometrists, and allows them to provide basic treatments like physicals, routine services and the treatment of minor cuts. The law takes effect on July 1.
Since 2008, the Indiana University School of Medicine’s Department of Ophthalmology has seen nine physicians depart—nearly half its clinicians who care for adult patients.
Hospital system tripled its profit last year by wooing patients to its physicians, trimming hospital and clinical staff by more than 400. The rating agency Moody’s says things look even better in 2015.
Things got quiet after a wave of hospital systems' acquiring physician practices swept through central Indiana from 2008 to 2011. But a new wave could start now that Congress passed the "doc fix" last week.
The Senate gave final congressional approval late Tuesday to the $214 billion bipartisan measure, which rewrites how Medicare pays doctors for treating over 50 million elderly people.
By subtly threatening the loss of patients via a new “reference lab network,” the Indianapolis-based health insurer has persuaded 63 Indiana hospitals to slash their prices for blood and tissue testing by as much as 80 percent—beyond the discounts Anthem had already negotiated with them.
Instead of building new medical office buildings, cost-conscious Indianapolis-area hospital systems have the past few years opted for space in existing buildings.
IU Health had one of its most profitable years ever in 2014, as it cut staff, boosted its physician office visits and improved bill collections. But it is still hoarding cash to be ready for future cuts in reimbursement as well as future building projects.
New research shows patients lose trust and confidence in doctors that take money for travel, but like it when their doctors are paid as consultants during the development of new products.
Zionsville-based Hc1 is using its latest round of funding to expand from its roots—making software to help medical labs, pharmacies, physicians and hospital systems track the business relationships they have with one another—into a company that also helps those organizations interact directly with patients.
Malicious software used to hack into Anthem Inc.’s computers and steal 78.8 million patient records bears a striking resemblance to malware attributed to Chinese hackers, according to a Virginia-based security firm, ThreatConnect. The chief information officer of ThreatConnect told the Washington Post that the same malicious software was used to target a small U.S. defense […]
