Clarian Health and the Indiana University School of Medicine want their planned neurosciences hub to become a destination
for patients suffering
from brain, nerve and mental maladies—and for the government and industry research dollars that can
fuel advances in care.
A Lebanon-based startup wants to build a call center here and add up to 300 jobs, but state and local officials are struggling
with a big obstacle to keeping the company here.
Community Health Network has promoted Jane Callahan, a registered nurse, to vice president for physician
services, although she will keep her key duties: physician recruiting, partnering and credentialing. Callahan, a 30-year veteran
at Community, is also president emeritus of the board of directors for the Indianapolis affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the
Cure.
Dr. Gerald C. Walthall, has been appointed chairman of the central Indiana regional board
of directors of the Sisters of St. Francis Health Services Inc. The Catholic hospital organization operates three hospitals
in Beech Grove, Indianapolis and Mooresville. Walthall is a retired ear, nose and throat doctor. He is medical director of
the St. Francis’ palliative medicine team in central Indiana.
VoCare Inc. wants $4 million in cash and tax incentives to open headquarters and call center it says could employ 300 people.
Health care real estate has survived the nation’s weak economy better than most sectors, and some owners and developers
think it’s positioned to thrive.
Mississippi will receive $18.5 million from Indianapolis-based drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co. as part of a settlement over claims
the company promoted the anti-psychotic Zyprexa for ailments it was not federally approved to treat.
The federal Medicare program will conduct a demonstration project using the Indianapolis-based Indiana Health Information
Exchange to examine the impact of a multi-payer quality reporting and pay-for-performance incentives. Medicare will
feed its patient data into IHIE’s Quality Health First program, which combines data from health insurers with patient
medical records to help physicians track the quality of their care. Already, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of
Indiana is offering bonus payments based on how well doctors do at managing their patients’ health in key areas.
The Medicare program will allow IHIE to share in a portion of Medicare savings achieved once quality of care and cost objectives
are met.
St. Vincent Health made it official on Feb. 1. Washington County Memorial Hospital
in Salem is now St. Vincent Salem Hospital. The 25-bed facility will cost Indianapolis-based St. Vincent $3.5 million
over five years in a lease-to-buy agreement. St. Vincent executives have been managing the hospital for 18 months,
including during its bankruptcy reorganization, which began in June. The Salem hospital is the 18th in St. Vincent’s
statewide network.
The National Institutes of Health’s National Eye Institute has awarded Teri Belecky-Adams,
professor of developmental biology at IUPUI’s School of Science, a $1.25 million grant to study astrocytes
in the optic nerve. Astrocytes are cells that make it difficult for the brain to heal and to overcome injury or disease. By
understanding what kind of factors regulate certain gene expressions in astrocyte cells in the optic nerve, scientists hope
to gain a deeper knowledge of brain injuries and the brain’s response to disease and injury. The study is a collaborative
effort between the IU Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine, scientists within the IU School of Medicine,
and researchers at the University of Wisconsin.
Biologics LLC, which makes mobile labs and manufacturing
buildings for biotech firms, will locate its headquarters in Brownsburg, and plans to create at least 50 jobs by 2013. The
company plans to invest $14.6 million in machinery and equipment and lease 7,500 square feet in the Brownsburg
Motorsports Park before constructing a manufacturing plant in 2011. The Indiana Economic Development
Corp. offered Biologics up to $550,000 in tax credits to support the company’s job creation. Hendricks
County and the town of Brownsburg will consider additional property tax abatements.
AMPATH,
a joint partnership between Indiana University School of Medicine, Moi University School
of Medicine and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, has received another $5 million USAID grant to
expand health care services in western Kenya. AMPATH, which stands for the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare,
received a $60 million grant in 2007 from USAID, or the United States Agency for International Development. More than 100,000
Kenyans receive HIV/AIDS treatment through USAID-AMPATH’s system of community health workers in 23 full-time clinics
and 23 satellite clinic locations.
New Jersey-based Enzon Pharmaceuticals Inc. closed on the sale
of its specialty pharmaceutical business, including a plant in Indianapolis, to Italian-owned Sigma-Tau Group. The deal
could be worth up to $300 million. Locally, Enzon’s plant at 6925 Guion Road makes drugs to treat leukemia, meningitis,
fungal infections and the “bubble boy disease” immune disorder. The plant employs about 100 workers, and the manufacturing
operations will remain in Indianapolis, Sigma Tau spokesman Marc Tewey said.
Fourth-quarter profit fell 19 percent,
to $69 million, at Indianapolis-based Dow AgroSciences as the company spent more on research and marketing
expenses related to its seed business ramp-up. Revenue rose 17 percent, to $1.1 billion, from the same period in 2008. For
all of 2009, Dow Agro, a subsidiary of Michigan-based Dow Chemical Co., reported revenue of $4.5 billion,
down from $4.6 billion in 2008. Annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization dropped
to $577 million from $892 million.
Dr. Kristine Courtney, Eli Lilly and Co.’s senior director of corporate health services, describes
how and why the company spent two years making its clinics some of the first to electronically swap patient records with
a local hospital database.
St. Vincent Health is near an agreement to take over The Care Group LLC, the city’s largest independent physician practice
and largest cardiology group in the nation.
The government has erected a high fence around a pot of $27 billion available to doctors and hospitals that successfully
computerize their patient records by next year, sparking complaints.
Anti-tobacco advocates worry cost-cutting move could seriously diminish state’s efforts to curb Hoosier tobacco use.
St. Vincent Health’s agreement to lease the county hospital in Salem for five years is the latest in a string of deals
by Indianapolis hospital systems seeking a statewide presence.
Hey, wait a minute! That was the reaction, somewhat delayed, by the Indiana chapter of the National Federation
of Independent Business, to a late-December change to federal health reform legislation. The
Senate version of reform exempts companies with fewer than 50 employees from a requirement to provide
health benefits. But in late December, Senate leaders made a change for construction firms, saying the
exemption would apply only if they have five or fewer employees. The change was a favor to union groups,
which said non-union construction contractors would have an advantage over unionized shops that do provide
health benefits. Local NFIB leaders staged a protest/press conference last week, calling on Congress to “strip this
job-killing provision from a final health care bill.”
Orbis Education, a locally based maker
of nursing-education software, received $8 million in venture capital from Menlo Park, Calif.-based Lightspeed
Venture Partners. Founded in 2003, Orbis offers online instruction to help universities and hospitals
train new nurses. A key hurdle in the looming nursing shortage is the lack of capacity for nursing schools
to accept all qualified applicants. Last year, it had $4.5 million in revenue and 33 employees. Orbis
aims to boost its work force past 50 by the end of the year. Orbis had previously raised $4 million from
family, friends and angel investors.
Watch out, Eli Lilly and Co. A Greenwood pharmaceutical
firm plans to build a $28 million insulin facility there to make a cheaper version of the diabetes-fighting medicine. According
to the Daily Journal of Franklin, Elona Biotechnologies expects its 50,000-square-foot facility to employ as many
as 70 people. Greeenwood officials are considering $8.5 million in incentives, including some loans,
to help Elona build the facility and get it approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Elona
was founded in the late 1980s by former Lilly researcher Ron Zimmerman.
West Lafayette-based
IVDiagnostics LLC won a $124,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to further
its cancer diagnostics research. The Small Business and Innovation Research Phase 1 grant will pay for
the company to improve the design of its IVFLow medical device, which analyzes and monitors tumor cells without taking blood
from a patient.
Physicians working in a surgery center connected to Community Hospital South kicked
in $500,000 to help the hospital complete a massive expansion. The gift, given by 65 doctors, boosts
to $1.2 million the money raised for the project by the philanthropic arm of Community Health Network.
The $130 million expansion will add 40 beds. It is scheduled to open in mid-2010.
Dr. Kristine M. Powell, a pediatrician, joined St. Vincent Physician Network in Indianapolis. A graduate
of Indiana University in Bloomington and the IU School of Medicine in Indianapolis, Powell was most recently
a visiting professor at the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital.
Dr. James
Perry has been elected president of the St. Francis Hospital-Mooresville medical staff for a
two-year term. He is the obstetrics medical director for St. Francis Hospital-Mooresville and is affiliated
with Southwest Women’s Health.
Kathleen Marrs, a biology professor, has been named associate
dean of academic affairs at the School of Science at IUPUI.
The locally based maker of nursing-education software will use the infusion to accelerate growth.
St. Francis and Westview hospitals are open to hosting the osteopathic-medicine school proposed by the Indianapolis Catholic
institution.
The tiny Catholic institution in Indianapolis has $30 million raised toward new college that could train nearly half as many
students as the Indiana University medical school.
The massive far-east-side facility
already launders linen
for 30 hospitals and 400 clinics in Indiana, handling more than 36 million pounds of soiled linen each year.
Observers expect a lull with inpatient facilities for five years or more, but continued proliferation of outpatient
clinics and surgery centers.
