Insurers losing fight with hospitals
While I certainly support increases in transparency of cost and quality, I wonder why insurance companies need to resort to gimmicks [“Insurers Push Comparison Shopping,” Nov. 28].
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LAMKIN: Solving health care woes with CO-OPs
Health costs remain the No. 1 cause of personal bankruptcy and the largest, most uncontrollable element for businesses. This is unsustainable.
People
Hall Render Killian Heath & Lyman added William Dummett to its Indianapolis office, where he works advising hospitals and physicians on health information technology issues. Dummett holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Clarion University of Pennsylvania and earned his law degree at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law.
Dr. Ryan Johnston has been named director of IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital internal residency program in Muncie. Johnston, who holds undergraduate and medical degrees from Indiana University, replaces Dr. Matthew Neal, who will continue to be executive medical director of academic affairs for Ball Memorial.
Mills: Health care’s future is partnership
In spite of all the consolidation lately among hospitals, Community Health CEO Bryan Mills says the future of hospital systems will hinge more on partnerships like the one Community struck last week on its rehab hospital.
Company news
Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. won’t put Pfizer Inc.’s cholesterol drug Lipitor on its generics list and instead will favor a copy made by Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc., according to Bloomberg News. Lipitor, the best-selling brand-name drug of all time, began facing competition from cheaper generic copies on Nov. 30. India-based Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. won approval to sell generic Lipitor, called atorvastatin. And New York-based Pfizer authorized New Jersey-based Watson to also make generic copies. But Pfizer turned heads by striking deals with insurers and pharmacy benefit managers, such as New Jersey-based Medco Health Solutions, to reject claims for generic atorvastatin in exchange for price cuts that made patients' co-pays on brand-name Lipitor equal to the generic pill. But some have questioned whether the total cost to health plans will be higher under Pfizer’s plan. Three U.S. senators sent a letter last week to Pfizer questioning whether the deals will artificially prop up patient costs, according to Bloomberg. “By working with manufacturers to push brand-name drugs, drug-benefit companies may be abusing Medicare to boost their profits and deny generic alternatives to patients—a practice that needs to end immediately,” said Sen. Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat who leads the Finance Committee. WellPoint said it would charge co-pays of $20 to $35 for Lipitor prescriptions, instead of co-pays of $10 to $15 for generic atorvastatin.
Indianapolis-based Indiana University Health opened its newest hospital in Fishers on Dec. 1. IU Health Saxony, the construction of which was delayed by the 2008 financial meltdown, cost $270 million to build. The 200,000-square-foot facility has 42 inpatient beds and an outpatient surgery center. IU Health also built a medical office building with a retail pharmacy, café and sleep disorders center. About 60 physicians will work from the hospital campus, most of them employed by IU Health. The whole facility will employ 250 workers. Near IU Health’s new hospital, Indianapolis-based St. Vincent Health operates an emergency room and medical center that it is expanding into a full-service hospital. The expanded facility, which will include 40 inpatient beds, is scheduled to open in early 2013.
Zimmer Holdings Inc. will establish a new research and development center in Beijing, where the Warsaw-based maker of orthopedic implants already has offices. Zimmer did not say how many people it plans to employ at its R&D center. But the company hopes to develop a network of similar R&D centers around Asia. "Investment in local research and development represents a critical component of Zimmer's long-term strategy to provide clinically relevant offerings for Asian markets,” CEO David Dvorak said in a prepared statement. Zimmer plans for its Beijing researchers to collaborate with local engineers and health care professionals to develop products specifically tailored to the needs of Asian patients.
2011 CFO OF THE YEAR: Marvin L. White
Marvin White, system vice president and CFO of St. Vincent Health, is a finalist in the not-for-profit category.
2011 CFO OF THE YEAR: Linda Wilgus
Linda Wilgus, executive director and CFO of Northwest Radiology Network, is a finalist in the private companies (revenue $100 million or less) category.
Company news
The CEO of Fishers-based Positron Corp., which plans to build a $55 million cyclotron in Noblesville for medical isotopes, faces a lawsuit from the U.S. Secruities and Exchange Commission, alleging he defrauded investors of a hedge fund he operates by secretly investing their money into Positron. CEO Patrick G. Rooney also is founder and managing partner of Oakbrook, Ill.-based Solaris Management. IBJ reported in September that Positron lost $10.9 million last year and at year-end had an accumulated deficit of $102.3 million. Earlier this year, Positron’s accounting firm issued a going-concern warning about the company. The SEC alleges Rooney and Solaris between 2005 and 2008 invested more than $3.6 million of the fund's money in Positron through both private transactions and market purchases of Positron’s common stock. The fund now owns over 1.1 billion shares of Positron, or more than 60 percent of the company. Rooney “hid” the Positron investment and his affiliation with the Fishers company until March 2009, according to the SEC’s lawsuit. At that time “he lied in telling them that he became chairman to safeguard the Solaris Funds’ investment,” the suit states. Rooney could not be immediately reached for comment about the SEC complaint.
Community Health Network plans to move its inpatient rehabilitation facility from its east-side hospital to a new, $23 million facility in the Castleton neighborhood, the Indianapolis-based hospital system announced Monday. The new facility, which will include 60 beds in 63,000 square feet of space, is scheduled to open in the second quarter of 2013. Construction on or near the Community Hospital North campus will begin next year. Community is partnering with Nashville-based Centerre Healthcare on the new facility, which will provide care for neurological, stroke and traumatic injury patients. Community’s inpatient rehabilitation program, called Hook Rehabilitation, will move its services and staff to the new facility when it opens and close the 42-bed unit located in Community Hospital East. Community, which acquired Westview Hospital earlier this year, is also moving ahead with plans to build a Communtiy Westview medical facility in Speedway. According to the Speedway Redevelopment Commission, the 40,000-square-foot health pavilion would include physician offices, imaging equipment and lab testing. It could also serve as a training facility for osteopathic medical students. If approved by the boards of directors for Community and Westview, groundbreaking for the health pavilion could occur as early as spring 2012.
UnitedHealth Group Inc. won the sweepstakes for XLHealth Corp., which had reportedly included Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. Baltimore-based XLHealth is the latest company nabbed in a string of acquisitions of Medicare managed care companies. The purchase by Minnesota-based UnitedHealth follows purchases of similar companies by WellPoint and Cigna in June and October, respectively. WellPoint acquired California-based CareMore Health Group, which operates clinics for Medicare patients in California and Arizona. Health insurers are trying to expand their businesses caring for seniors in the federal Medicare program, as the baby boomer generation began to flood into the program this year.
Health insurers push comparison shopping
Indianapolis-based Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Minnesota-based UnitedHealthcare say they’re responding to demands from employers, who are desperate to rein in spiraling health benefits costs and have begun embracing the idea that to do so they must change their workers’ approach to health and health care.
MYERS: You’re liking the Affordable Care Act
Polls are showing increasing support for the law as people begin to separate truth from deception.
BROWN: The real reason hospitals are buying doctor offices
Raising prices is easier when numbers are limited.
Decatur Vein Clinic branches out
In little more than a decade, former Conseco director Dr. David Decatur has turned his single-office family practice into a multistate chain of vein clinics. A 14th location is planned.
UnitedHealth to acquire Medicare insurer XLHealth
UnitedHealth Group Inc. said it will acquire XLHealth Corp., a provider of managed care for chronically ill Medicare members. Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. had been considering a possible acquisition of the company.
People
Dr. Elizabeth Grethen, an endocrinologist, has joined the St. Vincent Physician Network in Zionsville. Grethen holds a bachelor’s in biological sciences from Cornell University and a medical degree from Loyola University’s Stritch School of Medicine.
Methodist Health Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital, named Kevin Armstrong its new president. Armstrong replaces Betty Stilwell, who has become chief philanthropy officer for the IU Health network. Armstrong, who has been on the foundation’s board since 2008, has also been serving as senior pastor for North United Methodist Church in Indianapolis. Armstrong holds degrees from DePauw University and Duke Divinity School.
Company news
WellPoint Inc. is one of several health insurers weighing bids as high as $2 billion for XLHealth Corp., a provider of managed care for chronically ill Medicare members, according to Bloomberg News. According to unnamed sources cited by Bloomberg, the bids for XLHealth may value the company in a rage from $1.5 billion to $2 billion. A deal may be announced in the coming weeks, Bloomberg reported. Indianapolis-based WellPoint and its peers have made a point of expanding their services to beneficiaries of the federal Medicare program, which is expected to grow rapidly thanks to aging baby boomers. By contrast, WellPoint expects its bread-and-butter employer business to stagnate soon. In June, WellPoint purchased California-based CareMore Health Group, which serves Medicare patients. XLHealth, started in 1997, provides managed care services for Medicare patients with diabetes, heart disease and other chronic conditions. It has 111,000 members in Medicare products, including the Part D drug plan and the Advantage plan for physician fees and hospital charges.
West Lafayette-based Medtric Biotech LLC won $65,000 in cash and services at the Purdue University Life Sciences Business Plan Competition for its winning presentation on its innovative wound-care technology. Medtric’s technology uses "nanobubbles" in its antimicrobial process for destroying bacteria to help prevent and treat infected wounds. Two other West Lafayette companies—BioRegeneration Technologies and QuantIon Technologies Inc.—placed third and fourth, respectively. The runner-up company was OneBreath, of Palo Alto, Calif., which is developing a simpler platform to provide mechanical ventilation for those with respiratory problems from flu or other trauma.
Indianapolis-based Better Healthcare for Indiana is convening community leaders to improve health and health care in cities around Indiana. The not-for-profit group’s third annual “All Healthcare is Local” conference will take place on Nov. 16 at Second Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis. Leaders from Terre Haute, Columbus, Kokomo and Evansville will all give presentations on the efforts in their communities. Keith Reissaus, vice president of community and work force initiatives at Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana, will give the lunchtime talk. The keynote speech, titled “Healthy Communities Mean Lower Costs,” will be delivered by Tyler Norris, president of Community Initiatives Inc. in Boulder, Colo., and a senior adviser to the California-based health insurer and medical provider Kaiser Permanente.
In an early example of enforced rebates, Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. is one of 11 health insurers ordered by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to refund $114.5 million to policyholders, according to Bloomberg News. That’s because the insurers failed to spend at least 82 cents of each premium dollar on health care as required by the state. A mandate to spend a certain amount on medical care also is a federal requirement under the 2010 U.S. health reform law. WellPoint’s Empire BlueCross BlueShield was ordered to pay $61.1 million, which is the largest rebate demanded from insurers in New York and nearly three times as much as the second-largest rebate. WellPoint’s Empire payments represent about 3 percent of its total premium revenue for insurance products subject to these laws, Kristin Binns, a WellPoint spokeswoman, told Bloomberg. “As in previous years, and consistent with New York law, if the amount Empire pays for medical claims is unexpectedly low, Empire pays refunds to its customers,” she said.
Biomedical research at the Indiana University School of Medicine and its partner hospitals pumped $370 million into Indiana's economy in 2009, according to a new study detailed by the Associated Press. The study by the Association of American Medical Colleges estimates the medical school pumped an estimated $142.5 million into the economy directly through federal and state-funded research. That research generated another $228 million in indirect economic activity. It also estimates the Indianapolis medical school's research supported about 2,470 jobs in Indiana in 2009. The report doesn't include economic activity of businesses that commercialize biomedical discoveries made by IU researchers.
People
Hall Render Killian Heath & Lyman PC hired three new associate attorneys in its Indianapolis office. Geoffrey Davis focuses his litigation practice in defending physicians, hospitals and dentists. He graduated from Butler University in 1999 and earned his law degree from the University of Toledo in 2005. Katie Miller focuses on corporate deals, physician integration and intellectual property issues. She graduated from Purdue University in 2008 and from the Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis in 2011. Chad Wilson, a licensed physical therapist, focuses on hospital and physician contracts. He received all his degrees from Indiana University.
Dr. Ryan R. Lacy has established a practice with Martinsville Family & Internal Medicine with St. Francis Medical Group, the second physician in St. Francis’ new Martinsville medical office. Lacy holds a bachelor’s in biology and a master’s in physiology, both from IUPUI. He did his medical training at the Indiana University School of Medicine.
Dr. Jeff Sperring, chief medical officer of Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health, has been named the hospital’s president and CEO. Riley was left with a sudden leadership vacuum in late spring after CEO Dan Fink resigned, followed three weeks later by the departure of Chief Operating Officer Brett Lee to another hospital. Since then, Riley’s chief nursing officer, Marilyn Cox, has been serving as interim CEO. She will return to her role in nursing administration. Sperring graduated from Emory University in Atlanta and did his medical training at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tenn.
WellPoint considers bid for managed care firm
XL Health specializes in chronically ill Medicare members, could help WellPoint profits as baby boomers age.
WellPoint eyes $1.5 billion deal for XLHealth
Offers for XLHealth, a provider of managed care for chronically ill Medicare members, may value the company at $1.5 billion to $2 billion.