Anthem prez: Expect ‘crickets chirping’ on Oct. 1
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield President Rob Hillman expects a slow start to the Obamacare exchanges, with fewer than one-third of uninsured people buying coverage there.
Wishard Health Services
Articles
People
Dr. Thomas Lahr, a family physician, has joined the Franciscan Physician Network and Martinsville Family & Internal Medicine. He received his undergraduate degree in chemistry at IUPUI, as well as a master’s in physiology and a medical degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine.
Pamela Phillips, a psychologist, has joined the outpatient behavioral health services division at Franciscan St. Francis Health. Phillips recently completed a post-doctoral fellowship in clinical neuropsychology at the Indiana University School of Medicine. She received her undergraduate degree in psychology at Mercer University in Macon, Ga., and earned a master’s and a doctorate in clinical psychology at the Argosy University/Georgia School of Professional Psychology.
Dr. Jason Cheng-En Sea has joined Wishard-Eskenazi Health in the urology department. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
People
Pamela London has been named vice president of cardiovascular services for Indianapolis-based hospital system Community Health Network. London previously founded and led Family Health Advocates Inc., a patient advocacy consulting company that offers quality care options to Canadian citizens. She holds a bachelor’s in nursing from the University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.
The Indianapolis Coalition for Patient Safety named James Fuller its president. Fuller comes to the coalition from Wishard Health Services where he worked nearly 27 years, most recently as vice president of clinical support services. Fuller replaces Carol Birk, who had been president of the coalition since 2009. The coalition is composed of chief executive, medical, nursing, quality, safety and pharmacy officers from six Indianapolis hospital systems. Fuller holds a bachelor’s and a doctorate in pharmacy from Purdue University.
Feds scrutinize nursing home buying spree
Indiana’s county-owned hospitals have rushed to acquire nursing homes in the past two years, opening a revenue stream for both the hospitals and the long-term-care facilities. But the additional federal revenue that has driven these purchases could come under threat.
People
Dr. Bryan H. Schmitt, a pathologist, has joined Wishard-Eskenazi Health. Schmitt graduated from Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa. He earned his medical degree at Des Moines University, College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Kelli Searles has been appointed regional vice president of marketing for Franciscan St. Francis Health. She was previously director of marketing and community relations. Searles holds bachelor’s degrees in journalism and psychology at Ball State University.
IU docs in middle of Community-Wishard deal
The new partnership between Community Health Network and Wishard Health Services could put a third health care entity in an awkward position: the Indiana University School of Medicine. Virtually all of the nearly 1,100 physicians who practice at Wishard Memorial Hospital and its community clinics come from the IU medical school.
UPDATE: Primary care at heart of hospitals’ deal
Community Health Network’s new partnership with Wishard Health Services will create a primary-care behemoth that the systems argue will put them in the best position possible to handle the changes coming from federal health reform.
Community, Wishard to form joint operating agreement
The partnership will create a new board to oversee and coordinate the operations of both systems, according to internal messages sent to Community stakeholders. Community Health CEO Bryan Mills will be the CEO of the new joint-operating entity.
People
St. Vincent Health named Julie Carmichael as its chief strategy officer for the 22-hospital system, starting Dec. 31. Carmichael succeeds Kevin Speer, who left St. Vincent in November to become CEO of Hendricks Regional Health in Danville. Carmichael worked the past 19 years as CEO of the Suburban Health Organization, a partnership of several Indianapolis-area hospital systems, including St. Vincent Health. She holds a bachelor’s degree Stanford University and an MBA from Indiana University.
Dr. Jonathan Ting, an otolaryngologist, has joined Wishard Health Services. He received his medical degree from the University of Western Ontario.
Dr. David K. Booth, a family medicine physician, has joined Community Physicians Network, a subsidiary of Indianapolis-based Community Health Network, after practicing privately in Meadville, Pa. He earned his medical degree at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Hospital in Harrisburg, Pa.
Dr. Michael DaRosa, a primary care sports medicine physician, has joined Community Physician Network in Greenwood. He completed his medical degree at Des Moines College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Dr. Vin Gupta, a pediatric hospitalist, has joined Community Hospital North in the Castleton neighborhood. He earned his medical degree from the Medical College of Ohio.
Dr. Syeda Naqvi, a geriatrician, has joined Community Physician Network. She completed her medical degree at Sind Medical College in Karachi, Pakistan.
Dr. Nicole Zulkowski, a physical medicine and rehabilitation physician, has joined the Community Spine Center in Greenwood. She earned her medical degree at the Indiana University School of Medicine.
Union Health System Inc. in Terre Haute named Patrick S. Board as its CEO. Board succeeds David Doerr, who announced his retirement earlier this year. Board has been CEO of Union Health’s physician group, called Union Associated Physicians Clinic LLC, in Terre Haute. Starting Jan. 1, Board will oversee both the Union physician practice and Union Hospital, which will continue to be led by Scott Teffeteller. Board received a bachelor’s degree in business from the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., and a master’s degree in hospital and healthcare administration from the University of Minnesota.
People
Dr. Zeba Madni, a psychiatrist, has joined Wishard Health Services. She received her medical degree in India and completed her residency in general psychiatry at Indiana University.
Dr. George Sheng, a vascular surgeon, has joined the CorVasc surgical practice, which is part of the St. Vincent Medical Group in Indianapolis. Sheng earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from Trinity University. He received his medical degree from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tenn.
Adam Horst, director the Office of Management and Budget under outgoing Gov. Mitch Daniels, will become vice president and controller at Indiana University Health. Horst will work under IU Health CFO Ryan Kitchell, who also was Horst’s boss for time in the Daniels administration. Horst holds a master’s degree in political science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree in government and psychology from Dartmouth College.
People
Dr. April P'Pool, a pediatrician, has joined Eskenazi Medical Group and Wishard Health Services as part of Cottage Corner Health Center. P'Pool holds a bachelor’s in biology from Wheaton College. She received her medical degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine.
Dr. Ashesh P. Shah, an abdominal transplant surgeon, has joined the transplant team at Indiana University Health. Shah received his medical degree and residency training at the Indiana University School of Medicine.
Dr. Saurabh Agrawal, a transplant hepatologist, also has joined the transplant team at IU Health. Agrawal, who got his medical degree from the Federal University of Paraiba in Brazil, received his residency training at Cleveland Clinic.
St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital appointed Dr. George Shade Jr. as chief medical officer. Shade comes to St. Vincent from Detroit Medical Center, where he was chief quality officer. He has also served as an instructor at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, chairman of the state of Michigan Board of Medicine, and vice president of medical affairs at Sinai-Grace Hospital in Detroit. Shade replaces Dr. Daniel LeGrand, who returned to full-time private practice as a vascular surgeon at the St. Vincent Medical Group.
Company news
Eli Lilly and Co. shares rose nearly 5 percent Monday morning after the company said a study found that its experimental stomach cancer drug helped patients with advanced disease live longer, according to Bloomberg News. The drug, ramucirumab was tested in patients with gastric cancer that had spread to other organs. The most common side effect for the medicine was high blood pressure, diarrhea and headache, Lilly said in a prepared statement. Lilly did not disclose how much logner ramucirumab helped patients live, but said it would release those details at a future medical meeting. If approved, the drug might generate $600 million in annual sales, said Mark Schoenebaum, a New York-based analyst with ISI Group. Lilly shares rose 4.8 percent, to $52.86 each, late in the morning and were up 32 percent in the 12 months through Sunday. Ramucirumab is among the products obtained by Lilly from its $6.5 billion acquisition of ImClone Systems Inc. in 2008. Lilly has five other late-stage studies of ramucirumab ongoing in four tumor types, including breast and lung cancer. If approved for all indications in testing, the drug could have $1.6 billion in sales by 2020, according to a prediction by Leerink Swann analyst Seamus Fernandez.
Ron Thieme, who took over as president and CEO of AIT Laboratories during a management shakeup earlier this year, is leaving, the Indianapolis-based firm announced Monday morning. Chairman and company founder Michael Evans will return to the positions of president and CEO. Evans stepped down from those positions in March to make way for Thieme, who had been vice president and chief information officer of AIT since 2007. AIT said Monday in a prepared statement that Thieme was “leaving the company to pursue other challenges” and “would continue to work with AIT during a transition period.” AIT, a forensics and clinical testing company, has experienced a number of management moves this year amid challenging economic conditions in its industry. In January, Evans said AIT was looking to "restructure our business" and had eliminated an unspecified number of jobs. “AIT has seen reimbursement from government and private payers reduced throughout 2011, which has had a negative financial impact on the company,” he said at the time.
Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. will reorganize into four business units as a way to smooth the integration of Amerigroup Corp., the insurer WellPoint agreed to buy in July for $4.9 billion, according to a company memo obtained by Bloomberg News. Unlike WellPoint’s old structure, Medicare and Medicaid plans will be handled in separate divisions. In addition, there will be a commercial division overseeing sales of health insurance to employers and individuals, and a specialty division that sells dental, vision and disability coverage. Jim Carlson, CEO of Virginia-based Amerigroup, will run the Medicare division. Leeba Lessin, who was the top medical officer at California-based CareMore Group when WellPoint acquired it last year, will run the Medicare unit. Ken Goulet will continue to oversee WellPoint’s commercial business. And WellPoint veteran Lori Beer will oversee the specialty businesses. Chief Financial Officer Wayne DeVeydt will remain in his job. The changes were instituted by John Cannon, who has been serving as WellPoint’s interim CEO since the forced resignation of Angela Braly on Aug. 28. Cannon will serve in that role until a permanent replacement is found.
Three health care organizations broke ground on new facilities last week. The Community Health Network hospital system will construct a $24 million cancer center on the campus of its Community South Hospital. The 65,000-square-foot facility is expected to open next fall. Wishard Health Services, which is in the process of changing its name to Eskenazi Health, is building a $25 million primary care center in a former Circuit City store near Lafayette Square Mall. The 70,000-square-foot center will open next fall to provide care, senior care, health and wellness programs, physical therapy, radiology and other diagnostic testing. In addition, HealthNet Inc. is spending $312,000 to convert a former Blockbuster video store on West 10th Street into a primary care health center. The center will also offer pediatric, OB/GYN, podiatry, optometry, social work and behavioral health services, as well as access to discounted prescriptions. The health center, which will open in December, is expected to serve 3,000 patients.
Biomet Inc. saw its operating income fall and its sales growth decelerate in the three months ended Aug. 31. The Warsaw-based maker of orthopedic implants is often a bellwether for the rest of the industry. Biomet’s overall sales rose 6 percent in the quarter, to $707.4 million, compared with the same three months a year ago. But excluding Biomet’s recent acquisition of a trauma implant maker, its sales would have grown just 1 percent, to $668.6 million, over the same quarter last year. During the three months ended May 31, Biomet’s overall sales grew 3 percent. “We did experience some deceleration in growth for our hip and knee business, but until others report their results, we won't know whether market growth has slowed or our growth has come back to market,” Biomet CEO Jeffrey Binder said in a prepared statement. Operating income at Biomet totaled $69 million during the most recent quarter, down from nearly $73 million during the same quarter last year. Excluding special costs related to Biomet’s 2007 buyout by private equity firms and its acquisition of the trauma company, Biomet would have generated operating income of $191.7 million, a 5-percent increase over the same quarter last year.
Company news
The Indiana University Center for Aging Research and the Indianapolis-based Regenstrief Institute Inc. won a $7.8 million award from the federal government to expand a mental health program for seniors throughout Marion County. A pilot of the program at Wishard Memorial Hospital was shown to reduce participating patients’ emergency room visits 45 percent and hospitalizations 54 percent. The program uses home visits, phone calls and e-mails—both to patients and to their family members—to cut out dangerous medications and daily stressors and to boost brain and physical exercise. The new funding, awarded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, will expand the program to more than 2,000 Medicare patients at 11 community health centers operated by Wishard.
Anderson-based Saint John’s Health System announced a name change and a new $27 million surgery department to its hospital. Beginning Jan. 1, Saint John’s will be called St. Vincent Anderson Regional Hospital. The hospital system has for nearly a decade been part of the Indianapolis-based St. Vincent Health network of hospitals, which is a subsidiary of St. Louis-based Ascension Health. Hospital leaders said the new name will better reflect that the hospital serves patients from a wider area, which extends beyond Anderson and Madison County. The regional expansion is driving the need for more operating space. So the new surgery department will include at least nine operating suites, which Saint John’s plans to use to bring in newer technology and recruit more physicians.
St. Catherine Regional Hospital of Indiana LLC near Louisville has filed for bankruptcy protection and plans to sell the hospital as an ongoing operation. The 96-bed hospital has $8.3 million in unpaid debts, but less than $1 million in assets. In the 12 months ended in April, the hospital had an operating loss of nearly $1.3 million, according to court filings. According to the News and Tribune of Jeffersonville, St. Catherine is the second hospital in Clark County to declare file for bankruptcy protection recently. Kentuckiana Medical Center filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September 2010, but recently announced it has secured $40 million in funding that will bring it out of bankruptcy. St. Catherine has $40 million in annual patient revenue and employs 284 people.
Evansville-based Welborn Health Plans announced last week it would exit the Indiana and Kentucky health insurance markets by year’s end, and recommended that its employer customers shift to Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Welborn said it is exiting the business because changes in health insurance would require significant investments in its staff and systems to maintain a high level of customer service. Welborn insures 30,000 people through its employer clients. The two insurers signed an agreement to help Welborn customers transition smoothly.
The University of Notre Dame received $5 million to fund adult stem cell research from alumnus Michael Gallagher and his wife, Elizabeth, who live in Denver. The gift will fund three new endowed professorships in adult and other non-embryonic forms of stem cell research. Notre Dame already has built a team of researchers focused on adult stem cell research, which it supports over embryonic stem cell research—sparking controversy because the Catholic Church views the destruction of an embryo as destruction of a human life.
Home Health Depot Inc., which ranked as the fifth-fastest-growing company in Indianapolies last year, tacked on even more girth this month by acquiring Fort Wayne-based Medical Mobility LLC. The retailer sells durable medical supplies with a focus on complex rehabilitation equipment. That store will now be consolidated with Home Health Depot’s existing Fort Wayne store. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. This is Home Health Depot’s third acquisition this year. In February, Home Health Depot acquired a majority interest in Advanced Rehab Technologies LLC, the largest provider of complex rehabilitation equipment in Iowa. And in April, Home Health Depot acquired the assets of RCS Management Corp.’s in-home respiratory and sleep therapy business.
IU doc group becomes Eskenazi Medical
A group of 123 doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants have formed the Eskenazi Medical Group in order to focus on maximizing patient care and related bonus payments at Wishard Health Services.
People
Wishard Health Services named Dr. Christopher Weaver chief medical officer. He was vice president of clinical and business integration at Wishard, the county-owned hospital in Indianapolis. Weaver is also an associate professor of emergency medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine. He earned his bachelor’s and medical degrees from the University of Kentucky. He also holds an MBA from Indiana University.
David Dvorak, CEO of Warsaw-based Zimmer Holdings Inc., has been named chairman of Washington, D.C.-based AdvaMed, the main lobbying group for the U.S. medical-device industry. Dvorak replaced Jim Mazzo, senior vice president of Abbott Medical Optics, who chaired AdvaMed since 2008.
Hospitals push preemptive care with special programs
Hospitals around Indianapolis and the nation are expanding programs to help people before they become patients. They are trying to teach cooking as well as treat cancer, to do social work as well as do surgery.
Do electronic records really save money?
Even though researchers at the Indianapolis-based Regenstrief Institute Inc. demonstrated more than 20 years ago that electronic health records and test ordering systems significantly reduced costs in Indianapolis’ Wishard Health Services’ system, a recent study of electronic health records among office-based physicians came to the opposite conclusion.
2012 Forty Under 40: John M. Kunzer
John Kunzer, 35, credits his success to a long list of mentors, starting with his grandfather, a chemistry professor who took him to his office on Sundays and stressed the importance of education.