Hospitals add even more docs
Recent acquisitions by IU Health and Franciscan Alliance keep up a trend of physicians becoming employees of hospital systems, in preparation for changes under health care reform.
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Community Hospital South has hired Dr. Sheryl King as director of inpatient pediatrics. She holds a medical degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine. King practiced in Bloomington for 12 years before moving her practice to Johnson County in 2007.
Community South Hospital named Cheri Pfahler, a registered respiratory therapist, as its neonatal and pediatric cardiopulmonary manager. She comes to Community after serving as clinical coordinator of respiratory care for women’s and children’s services at Franciscan St. Francis Health.
Community Health Network named Jessie Westlund, a registered nurse, its chief integration officer. Westlund has previously been CEO of Community’s home health services unit.
Community Health Network also named Tom Malasto as chief operating officer of its three Indianapolis hospitals: Community North and the Indiana Heart Hospital in Castleton, Community East and Community South, along the county line between Marion and Johnson counties. Malasto has previously been CEO of the Indiana Heart Hospital.
Victor Esan has accepted the position of chief practice officer of IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital, where he will work to form and grow physician partnerships in and around Muncie. Esan previously worked at Howard Regional Health System in Kokomo. He earned master's degrees in public management and business administration from Indiana University Kokomo.
India J. Taylor Owens, a registered nurse, has been selected as director of emergency services at Franciscan St. Francis Health, overseeing the emergency departments at Franciscan’s Beech Grove, Indianapolis and Mooresville hospitals. Owens most recently served as director for emergency services at Indiana University Health West Medical Center in Avon.
WellPoint Inc. named Meg Rush vice president of consumer experience and e-marketing. Most recently, Rush served as vice president of product management and design for WebMD Health Services. Rush holds a bachelor's degree from St. John Fisher College in New York and a master's of management degree from Pennsylvania State University.
Adam Chavers has joined Indiana University Health as executive director of corporate real estate for the chain’s hospitals statewide. Before joining IU Health, Chavers served for seven years as Indianapolis-based Kite Realty Group Inc.’s vice president of acquisitions, dispositions and investor relations.
People
Dr. Kevin B. Gebke has been named OneAmerica Professor of Preventive Health Medicine and chairman of the Indiana University Department of Family Medicine. He has been interim co-chair of the department since July 2009. He succeeds Dr. Douglas McKeag, who chaired the department for 10 years. Gebke received his medical degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine.
Dr. Lisa Altuglu, a pediatrician, has joined St. Vincent Physician Network in Indianapolis. Altuglu earned her medical degree from Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine in Rootstown, Ohio.
Sarah Knisely-King, a registered nurse, has been named director of the emergency department at Community Hospital South. She returned to Community South after serving as interim nurse manager and assistant director of emergency care at Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Sarasota, Fla. She earned her nursing degrees at Purdue University.
Dr. Aasha Trowbridge has been appointed medical director for Franciscan St. Francis Neighborhood Health Center, succeeding Dr. Mercy Obeime, who has been promoted to the newly created role of director for global and community health. Obeime will continue to see patients at the neighborhood clinic, but will also help expand Franciscan St. Francis Health’s involvement in health problems that extend beyond its local and national boundaries.
Company news
In the not-too-distant future, scientists tell us, we will regard the debilitating side effects of chemotherapy agents as akin to the bleeding therapy administered by 19th century country doctors. And a Purdue University chemist has developed a tool to help make the future of laser-guided cancer therapies a reality. W. Andy Tao has developed a nanopolymer that can be coated with drugs, enter cells and then be removed to determine which proteins in the cells the drug has entered. Knowing which proteins are targeted would allow drug developers to test whether new drugs target only desired proteins or others as well. Eliminating unintended protein targets could reduce the often-serious side effects associated with cancer drugs. Tao said there currently is no reliable way to test drugs for “off-targeting.”
Indianapolis-based Medical Animatics, a 3D animation company, is making a foray into the game business. The company will develop a game for kids ages 6-12 to help them learn safe behaviors at home, in their neighborhoods, at school or at a park. Medical Animatics will develop the game for Ohio-based Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Health games designed to be both educational and enjoyable are being developed by two other companies with Indiana ties—Bloomington-based Wisdom Tools LLC and Indianapolis-based Gabriel Entertainment, as well as by growing numbers of developers around the country. Medical Animatics also develops 3D animated instructional and informational materials for the health care, higher education and sports industries.
Northern Indiana's Manchester College plans to begin work this summer on its new $18 million pharmacy school. School spokeswoman Jeri Kornegay said Thursday that a ground-breaking for the 75,000-square-foot building in Fort Wayne is expected early this summer, possibly in June. Until the building is complete in July 2012, the college's School of Pharmacy will continue to occupy space at Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne, about 30 miles east of North Manchester. The project is supported by a $35 million grant from Lilly Endowment that's the largest gift in the college's history. While pharmacy schools have opened on a rapid pace around the nation in recent years, Indiana is one of 18 states with a shortage of pharmacists. Manchester’s will be the third in Indiana offering doctorates in pharmacy, joining schools at Butler University in Indianapolis and Purdue University in West Lafayette.
Mishawaka-based Franciscan Alliance plans to spend $8.4 million to open an administrative center in Greenwood, creating nearly 85 jobs in the next four years. The Catholic health care system, formerly known as Sisters of St. Francis Health Services, will buy, remodel and equip the 96,505-square-foot freestanding building at 1040 Sierra Drive. The administrative center—dubbed the Franciscan Ambulatory Business Office—will house all physician billing operations for the organization’s 13 hospitals in Indiana and Illinois. Franciscan Alliance employs 18,200, including 556 physicians, and expects to grow its physician team to more than 630 next year. Hiring at the administrative center should begin in April as renovations are made. Franciscan Alliance is the second hospital system to announce plans recently to consolidate operations in central Indiana. In October, St. Louis-based Ascension Health, the parent organization of St. Vincent Health, decided to locate a $10.9 million professional service center in Indianapolis, creating up to 500 jobs by 2013.
U.S. News & World Report ranked the best hospitals in the Indianapolis area based on the ones that have medical specialty groups of either national prominence or high performance on such metrics as survival, safety, staffing, technology and patient volumes. Topping the list was the downtown medical complex of Clarian Health, now called Indiana University Health. The academic medical center—which includes Methodist, IU and Riley hospitals—ranked nationally in 11 areas, including gastroenterology, urology, geriatrics, orthopedics, neurosurgery and cancer. It also scored as high-performing in gynecology. Coming in second in the ranking was St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital, which scored as high-performing in 12 specialties. Other hospitals in the local top five were IU Health North Hospital, St. Vincent Carmel Hospital and, in a tie for fifth place, St. Vincent Heart Center and Wishard Health Services.
Hospitals’ finances improve somewhat in 2010
It was a good but not great year financially for three of the four largest hospital systems operating in the Indianapolis area last year—and hospital analysts are expecting several head winds to continue.
People
Community Heart and Vascular added Dr. Jo Mahenthiran as its 12th physician. Mahenthiran specializes in non-invasive cardiology and cardiac imaging. Most recently, he was an associate professor of clinical medicine and the director of cardiac imaging at the Krannert Institute of Cardiology at Indiana University. The practice is part of Indianapolis-based Community Health Network.
Robert Wade has joined Indianapolis-based Krieg DeVault LLP’s health care practice as a partner in the law firm’s Mishawaka office. His practice concentrates on hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, physician groups, physicians and other medical providers. Wade is the creator of Captain Integrity, www.captainintegrity.com, a compliance program resource used by many hospitals, health systems and other providers.
Dr. Paul E. Driscoll has been selected as medical director for St. Francis Medical Group after serving in that position on an interim basis for several months. A family physician, Driscoll will continue to oversee clinical operations of the 140-member physician group, which is owned by Franciscan St. Francis Health. Driscoll is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Harold Berfiend has been named chief operating officer of Indiana University Health Ball Memorial Hospital. Berfiend is a former controller for IU Health, when it was called Clarian Health. He came to Ball Memorial as chief financial officer after Clarian acquired the Muncie hospital in 2008.
Indianapolis-based SonarMed Inc. has named William DeMars its vice president of sales and marketing. DeMars will orchestrate the 2011 U.S. market launch of SonarMed’s Airwave system, which monitors breathing tubes for patients requiring ventilators. DeMars was previously the vice president of business development for Minnesota-based Ashmak, a medical consultancy.
Records
Announcements United Way of Central Indiana added its name to the list of those supporting the Indiana Compact, a statement of principles for immigration policy reform. The Indiana Compact advocates five principles should guide policy solutions around immigration reform: • federal solutions – urge Indiana’s Congressional delegation to address this federal policy issue. • law enforcement – respect the […]
Hospital systems adopt Starbucks-style service
Indiana University Health is the latest system to drill employees ranging from clerks to physicians in how to treat patients.
Q&A: Tony Lennen
Tony Lennen became president of Community Hospital South in 2009, overseeing a 50-bed expansion that was completed last summer, giving the hospital 150 private rooms. The facility, located along the line between Marion and Johnson counties, competes against nearby facilities run by Franciscan St. Francis Health, Indiana University Health and Johnson Memorial Hospital.
Company news
Eli Lilly and Co.’s chief of neuroscience research, who announced his departure last month, was actually poached from Lilly by New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson, according to the Wall Street Journal. Dr. David Bredt, who had been Indianapolis-based Lilly’s vice president of neuroscience discovery research and clinical investigation, started at Johnson on Feb. 28. Bredt came to Lilly in 2004 from the University of California at San Francisco Medical School, leading the company’s crucial Alzheimer’s research. He is the second top-level executive Lilly has lost this year. In January, John Johnson, the company's chief of oncology, resigned to become CEO at New Jersey-based Savient Pharmaceuticals Inc.
A life sciences networking group that got started in Philadelphia is now starting a chapter in Indianapolis. Pharma Thursday tries to connect professionals in the drug, device, diagnostic and biotech industries—regardless of which company they work for—as well as academic researchers. The first Indianapolis event takes place April 21 at 6 p.m. at Rock Bottom Brewery downtown. Pharma Thursdays started in November 2008 and reached 1,000 participants in Philadelphia in September 2010. The group also has chapters in Princeton, N.J., New York City and South Florida.
Lafayette-based Subaru of Indiana Automotive is the latest Hoosier employer to add an on-site health clinic, breaking ground on the facility last week. Managed by Florida-based WeCare TLC, the center will provide care to Subaru workers, retirees and dependents, once it opens this summer. Tom Easterday, Subaru of Indiana’s executive vice president, said the on-site clinic should help reduce employees’ health care costs and give them added care to improve their overall health.
In the latest acquisition of physicians by a local hospital system, Franciscan St. Francis Health has acquired Indy Southside Surgical, adding five general surgeons to its St. Francis Medical Group stable of physicians. Indy Southside Surgical had been affiliated with the St. Francis hospital system since 1989. The practice, which has offices in Indianapolis and Mooresville, includes Dr. David Mandelbaum, Dr. Jonathan Mandelbaum, Dr. Donald King, Dr. Matthew Libke and Dr. Mark Edwards. All earned their medical degrees at the Indiana University School of Medicine.
Community wins sweepstakes for Johnson partnership
Community Health Network won a three-way race for a close partnership with Johnson Memorial Hospital, besting Franciscan St. Francis and Indiana University Health.
St. Francis plans $23 million Carmel hospital
Franciscan St. Francis Health plans to open a short-stay medical center in Carmel, creating 76 jobs by 2015, the health system announced Monday morning.
People
Katz, Sapper & Miller LLP hired Colin Gulledge as a director in its health care resources group, helping hospitals and health systems improve reimbursement, compliance and coding practices. Gulledge has a bachelor’s degree in public health administration from Indiana University and an MBA from Butler University.
Dr. Smriti Banthia has joined Franciscan St. Francis Medical Group Indiana Heart Physicians after completing a fellowship at Northwestern University. She holds a medical degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine and an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Pierceton-based Paragon Medical has hired Michael Gosmeyer as chief compliance officer. Gosmeyer joins Paragon after serving as director of regulatory affairs at Batesville-based Hill-Rom Holdings Inc., a maker of hospital equipment.Robin Bellinger has joined Riley Children’s Foundation as chief development officer. Bellinger spent the past eight years at Purdue University, where she served as associate vice president of advancement, a senior director of development and interim vice president of advancement.
The Indiana Health Information Exchange named Harold Apple its new president and CEO, replacing Dr. Marc Overhage. Overhage will stay on as chief strategic officer and national policy adviser. Apple, 65, founded Indianapolis-based software firm Vector Technologies Inc., which he sold to a U.S. subsidiary of India-based Mastek in July 2007.
Company news
California-based Beckman Coulter Inc., which employs more than 500 people in the Indianapolis area, is up for sale, according to the Wall Street Journal. The company has hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to investigate a sale. After the Journal’s report, the company’s market value neared $5 billion. Potential buyers include private-equity firms such as the Blackstone Group and Apollo Global Management, or other companies in the medical-device industry, such as Illinois-based Abbott Laboratories, Germany-based Siemens or even Roche Diagnostics Corp. a Swiss company that operates its North American headquarters out of Indianapolis. Beckman’s testing machines are used in hospitals and medical research labs. In 2007, it moved more than 200 jobs to Indianapolis as it relocated its centrifuge development and manufacturing facilities. In October, Beckman announced plans to add 95 more jobs in Indianapolis over the next three years.
What is it about White County? In the same month that White County Memorial Hospital said it’s ready to merge with Indianapolis-based Clarian Health, now White County’s Monticello Medical Center is selling its four-physician family practice to St. Elizabeth Regional Health in Lafayette. St. Elizabeth is part of the Franciscan Alliance, which operates the three St. Francis hospitals in the Indianapolis area. Monticello, the White County seat, is about 30 miles north of Lafayette. St. Elizabeth will employ the four physicians, as well as three nurse practitioners, who collectively serve the largest percentage of White County residents. Locking up family practitioners is key for hospitals right now as they try to form themselves into “accountable care organizations” that will be paid by Medicare and private insurers for managing the long-term health of patients. Medicare’s rules will require accountable care organizations to provide family, or primary, care to at least 5,000 patients.
Indiana University’s health care budget will fall $24.9 million short of projected expenses in 2011-12, according to the Herald-Times of Bloomington, as a low-deductible Anthem Blue Access health care plan has become too expensive to offer to its 18,000 employees. IU trustee Tom Reilly Jr. implied that employees need to cover some of the extra costs.
Eli Lilly and Co. suspended a Phase 3 clinical trial of a skin-cancer drug after 12 patients in the study died, according to Bloomberg News. The deaths, among the 300 patients in the study, “may be treatment-related,” said Amy Sousa, a Lilly spokeswoman. Lilly was testing tasisulam on patients whose skin cancer had spread and who didn’t benefit from earlier treatment. No new or existing patients will be given the drug while the company evaluates safety data for the trial. But Lilly will continue to study tasisulam against breast, ovarian and renal cancers and against soft-tissue sarcoma, the company said.