Dec. 10-11
Tabernacle Presbyterian Church
Mezzo Angela Young Smucker, Soprano Emily Albrink, tenor (and IU product) Asitha Tennekoon, and bass-baritone Benjamin LeClair join the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra for its annual ride through Handel’s masterpiece. Details here.
Indianapolis-based startup Allium Midwest Media LLC will begin distributing print editions of The Onion and its sister publication The A.V. Club around Indianapolis starting Feb. 2.
Construction on the International Orangutan Center would start in August, with the opening set for Memorial Day weekend in 2014.
The Indiana University Marching Hundred have been chosen to perform at the Super Bowl in Indianapolis Feb. 5. The band will be part of pregame shows and the halftime performance at Lucas Oil Stadium, the Indiana Daily Student reported. IU announced Monday that it received a $1 million gift to spend on a planned $4.5 million indoor practice facility for the Marching Hundred. The band has been housed in temporary rehearsal spaces since 1983.
The Indiana Pacers will open the long-delayed preseason Dec. 16 by hosting the Chicago Bulls at Conseco Fieldhouse. All proceeds from the game will go to the United Way of Central Indiana.
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.
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.
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.
The Obama administration on Friday let stand an earlier rule that said brokers’ fees will have to count toward a 15-percent to 20-percent cap on administrative expenses placed on insurance plans by the 2010 health overhaul.
The performer, currently in the studio working on a new album, has a new film, "W.E.," which she directed, wrote and produced and will open nationally two days before the NFL's signature event.
The following is a list of Indianapolis-area not-for-profit organizations and the things each needs most.
A program to identify and cultivate entrepreneurs—the Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship—just hit a milestone. Orr fellow Mike Langellier has sold his upstart MyJibe LLC, in what appears to be the first Orr fellow to create a tech firm and take it full circle to liquidation.
The company raised $4.6 million to drill for oil in southwestern Indiana and southern Illinois.
The thought of No. 18 flinging passes for another team is unsettling.
The Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis will be renamed Robert H. McKinney School of Law in honor of the retired banker and attorney.
Besides individual tickets, entire suites are being offered for as much as $28,000 on various online brokerage sites for the inaugural Big Ten championship football game.
Karlton D. Turner and Lyn Sigman are among the talented vocalists featured in “Boogie Woogie Holidays” Dec. 2-17 at the Athenaeum. Details here.
Harpist and storyteller Patrick Ball incorporates excerpts from “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” and “The Wind in the Willows” as well as pieces by Shakespeare and Yeats into “The Christmas Rose,” presented Dec. 3 at the Indiana History Center’s Basile Theatre by Storytelling Arts of Indiana. Details here.
No Exit offers its twisted take on “The Nutcracker” Dec. 1-17 at The Service Center, a new performing arts space at 3919 Lafayette Road. Details here.
Beyond the Pointe Dance Company performs “Naptown Nutcracker” at the Madame Walker Theatre Center Dec. 2-4. Details here.
The Manual High School ManualAires join the Capital City Chorus for “Holiday Harmony 2011” Dec. 4 at the University of Indianapolis Ransburg Auditorium. Details here.
Kenyatta Dance Company performs “Breaking the Silence” Dec. 3 at the Arthur M. Glick JCC. Details here.
Recent work by past Efroymson Contemporary Art Fellows are featured in “Fast Forward,” Dec. 2 to Jan. 14 at iMOCA. Details here.
Country music up-and-comer Joanna Smith performs at the Studio Theater Dec. 3. Details here.
Jeffrey Siegel performs “Keyboard Conversations,” featuring music and commentary, Dec. 1 at the Studio Theater. Details here.
The local legal community is speculating that the announcement involves a large donation and a renaming of the school.
