While health insurers in states around the country have proposed large rate increases for the health plans they sell on the Obamacare exchanges, insurers in Indiana are asking for modest increases or even decreases. The bad news is that it appears the rest of the country is just catching up with Indiana’s already-high prices.
Eli Lilly and Co. announced that an experimental drug it is developing to treat psoriasis also proved effective against psoriatic arthritis. The drug, called ixekizumab, was statistically superior to a placebo when studied in a Phase 3 trial, the Indianapolis-based drugmaker announced Monday. It also reported that adverse events were higher for patients taking ixekizumab than for those taking placebos. Lilly will announce more detailed results from its latest clinical trial in coming months. In August, Lilly announced that ixekizumab helped six times more patients with psoriasis than an existing therapy for psoriasis in two Phase 3 clinical trials. Lilly is now seeking approval by regulators to bring ixekizumab to market.
A federal whistleblower lawsuit charges that Indiana University Health and HealthNet Inc. put low-income pregnant women and their newborn babies at risk in a fraud scheme to increase revenue and bilk taxpayers out of millions of dollars. The suit, brought by Dr. Judith Robinson and recently unsealed, claims that the two health care providers left their pregnant patients' care to lower-cost nurse midwives instead of having them treated by doctors. But when billing Medicaid, the two providers claimed the services were provided by doctors, Robinson’s complaint alleges. Robinson formerly served as director of women’s services at HealthNet, as well as medical director of ob-gyn services at IU Health. When Robinson learned of three instances of babies with permanent neurological injuries within a six-month period, allegedly due to the subpar care, she alerted IU Health executives as early as February 2013, according to her suit. Four months later, she was fired. HealthNet is the largest provider of midwifery services in the state. MDWise Inc., a Medicaid claims processor, also is named in the suit. Robinson filed her suit in December 2013 and amended the complaint in October 2014. Per the court’s order, both remained sealed from public view until March 10 of this year. "In keeping with our corporate policy and out of respect for those involved, IU Health does not comment on matters involving active litigation," IU Health said Friday in an email to IBJ. "We will fully cooperate with any requests throughout the investigation."
Indiana University Health plans to construct a new hospital in Bloomington four or five years from now after striking a deal with Indiana University to build on the school's golf driving range. The project, which would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, still must win approval from the IU Health board of directors and IU trustees. IU Health’s executives in Bloomington said in December they were considering a new hospital either in a new location or on the existing IU Health campus in downtown Bloomington. In February, IU Health’s Bloomington executives said a study had found that building on the existing site was not feasible. IU Health officials considered building on 85 acres the hospital system owns on the northwestern outskirts of Bloomington. But the IU driving range sits closer to the heart of the city, on 75 acres northeast of the IU campus and adjacent to the IU Technology Park. The exact timing and cost of the project will be determined by a year-long design process, according to IU Health spokeswoman Amanda Roach.
The state budget would cut property taxes in half for for-profit hospitals, according to The Times of Northwest Indiana. Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, said the tax break was included to help for-profit hospitals compete more equally with not-for-profit hospitals, which are not required to pay property taxes. The break would apply to buildings and equipment at such hospitals as Porter Regional Hospital in northwestern Indiana and Lutheran Health Network in Fort Wayne. In Porter County, Auditor Vicki Urbanik told The Times that Porter Regional would save $381,000 if its property taxes for 2016 remain about the same as this year.
The lawsuit charges that IU Health and HealthNet Inc. put low-income pregnant women and their newborn babies at risk in a fraud scheme that bilked taxpayers out of millions of dollars.
The number of health care providers contracted with the Medicaid managed care plans and Healthy Indiana Patients surged 17 percent in just seven weeks after the federal government approved Gov. Mike Pence’s expansion of the Healthy Indiana Plan on Jan. 27.
One-third of Indiana’s buyers on Obamacare exchanges were new to their health plans this year—tying Indiana for sixth among the 37 states using the federal exchange.
A sleepy season for Obamacare sign-ups will end on Sunday will overall enrollment almost exactly where insurers predicted it would be. But low-priced plans, such as Ohio-based CareSource, have scooped up far more customers than expected.
All signs point to University Hospital being shuttered as Indiana University Health goes from three downtown hospitals to two. IU Health leaders decided at least three years ago to close University Hospital on the IUPUI campus and move its operations to Methodist Hospital, according to an internal document obtained by IBJ. The document didn’t set […]
In health care, 5 percent of patients account for 50 percent of costs. Trouble is, those patients aren’t the same from year to year. Not even close.
Indianapolis-based PTS Diagnostics is on pace to boost revenue 60 percent this year, fueled by its acquisition of a blood glucose test and a shift to help doctors and nurses do a better job monitoring the health of their patients. PTS acquired the A1C Now test in December 2013 from Germany-based Bayer AG. That product […]
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, MDwise Inc. and Managed Health Services were selected by the state officials to manage health care services for 84,000 Hoosiers that qualify as aged, blind or disabled.
There are more choices and better deals in the 2015 Obamacare exchange, but if you want the same coverage as last year, it’s going to cost you more.
IU Health Plans, the insurance arm of the Indianapolis-based hospital system, is limiting itself to three middle-size markets next year—Bloomington, Lafayette and Muncie—even though the bulk of its facilities is in the metro area.
When Hoosiers start shopping on the Obamacare exchanges again in November, they’ll find new, lower-priced competitors and modest price increases that are much lower than insurers initially proposed. But that doesn’t mean they’ll save money.
Indiana University Health fell off U.S. News’ honor roll of the nation’s top 1 percent of hospitals. Because of Obamacare and other trends, perhaps IU Health should be happy about that.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services proposed a rule that would automatically re-enroll exchange plan customers each year, which would help companies like WellPoint that sold aggressively on the exchanges in their first year.
Obamacare’s tax credits are pumping nearly $400 million into the coffers of health insurers in Indiana this year, according to data released by the federal government and the insurance companies.
When the next enrollment season opens for the Obamacare exchange in Indiana, more than half the “health insurers” will actually be doctors and hospitals.
Health care professionals and advocates for the poor voiced praise and support Wednesday for a plan by Gov. Mike Pence to expand the state’s Healthy Indiana Plan to provide more insurance coverage to Hoosiers.
Initial 2015 premiums filed for the Obamacare exchanges in Indiana ranged from as high as a 46-percent hike to as low as a 9-percent cut. Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield wants an average increase of 9.7 percent.
The Accountable Care Consortium was envisioned as a vehicle through which the hospitals would eventually funnel all of their roughly $2.5 billion in annual contracts with health insurers and employers.
