Indianapolis ranked fifth highest among the nation’s largest cities for the most positive reviews of physicians. On a five-point Patient Happiness Index, the average review by patients scored Indianapolis physicians at a 4.05. San Francisco physicians topped the list.
One of the open secrets in health care is that hospitals are paid substantially more than independently owned health care facilities for the same procedures. But those higher fees are facing unprecedented pressure.
The Indiana University School of Medicine plans to hire 100 research professors over the next five years in a bid to vault into the top 25 medical schools.
With federal research funding declining, drug companies are taking a larger role funding the medical research happening at IU and universities around the country. That’s not the same thing as paying to market drugs, but it’s hardly without controversy.
In a deal expected to “change college sports forever,” the NCAA agreed Tuesday to settle a class-action head injury lawsuit by creating a $70 million fund to diagnose thousands of current and former college athletes to determine if they suffered brain trauma.
The Indiana Pacers, a round short of the NBA Finals the last two years, are left pondering a season without their best player.
The changes could impact some 470,000 Hoosiers, including health care workers, barbers, plumbers, social workers and others – people who face rules that critics say are far too burdensome.
Katelyn Becht, a nurse practitioner, has joined St. Vincent Medical Group in Carmel. Becht received a bachelor’s degree from Purdue University and a master’s degree in nursing administration from Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion.
Dr. Andrew Miller has joined Eskenazi Health Midtown Community Mental Health as a child and adolescent psychiatrist. He earned his medical degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine. He received a bachelor's degree in biology from IU-Bloomington.
Dr. Peter Hogg, an orthopedic surgeon, has joined Franciscan Physician Network Orthopedic Specialists. He earned his medical degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine and a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from DePauw University.
Andrea Pfeifle, a physical therapist, has been named the first assistant dean and director of the Indiana University Center for Interprofessional Health Education and Practice. The center was created to prepare future health care providers to deliver team-based care. Pfeifle comes to IU from the University of Kentucky, where she held a similar position. She earned a doctorate in education from the University of Kentucky.
Bloomington’s Monroe Hospital, which has had a close relationship with Indianapolis-based St. Vincent Health, filed for bankruptcy reorganization on Friday and plans to sell its business to a Canadian operator.
Determining governmental and tax structures is a major responsibility of state government. But, as we proceed into the 21st century, it is important to note that the size, density and distribution of our population have changed over the last 1-1/2 centuries.
Regenstrief Institute Inc. plans to build a $13 million, 80,000-square-foot headquarters at 10th and Wilson streets, the Indiana University School of Medicine announced on Aug. 14. The facility will be built on the medical school's campus at IUPUI on land leased from Indiana University. Regenstrief, a not-for-profit medical research organization, plans to move 50 investigators, 165 staff members and a number of affiliated scientists into the building when it is completed in mid-2015. Most of those employees now work in nearby locations at 1050 Wishard Blvd. and 410 W. 10th St. The Regenstrief Foundation has committed $5 million to the new building and the IU School of Medicine is contributing another $1 million, officials said. Schmidt Associates of Indianapolis is handling architecture and interior design. Regenstrief investigators developed and operate the Regenstrief Medical Record System, which has served as the electronic medical record system for Wishard, and now Eskenazi Health, since 1973. It is the oldest continually operational medical record system in the United States, Regenstrief said.
Eli Lilly and Co. says it will close its Elanco Animal Health enzyme plant in Terre Haute by early 2016 as part of a consolidation, according to the Associated Press. Lilly spokesman Ed Sagebiel told the Tribune-Star that the Indianapolis-based company is consolidating all of its animal enzyme manufacturing to a site in Great Britain. He said the plant closure will affect 23 employees, all of whom will be offered comparable positions at a Lilly plant near Clinton that employs about 500 workers. Clinton is about 15 miles north of Terre Haute. The Terre Haute plant makes animal feed enzymes that help animals digest food more efficiently, boosting farm productivity. Lilly purchased the Terre Haute plant in 2012.
Carmel entrepreneur Zeke Turner has agreed to sell the real estate investment trust he started two years ago for $950 million to focus on his original nursing home development company, Mainstreet Property Group. HealthLease Properties REIT, which Turner leads as CEO, announced Aug. 13 that it will be sold to Ohio-based Health Care REIT Inc. The Toledo, Ohio-based company, also known as HCN, also agreed to form a development partnership with Mainstreet under which it will acquire 17 projects Mainstreet has under construction and 45 senior care campuses it plans to build. In all, the deal is worth more than $2.3 billion. HCN, the largest U.S. health care landlord by market value, said it will pay $14.20 per share in Canadian dollars for HealthLease, 31 percent more than HealthLease's stock price before the deal was announced. HealthLease Properties, which is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, owns 51 senior care facilities in Canada and the United States, including 12 in Indiana. In second-quarter results announced Aug. 12, the company’s revenue and profit doubled from the previous year, to $17.6 million and $5 million, respectively, in Canadian dollars. Mainstreet has been the fastest-growing company in the Indianapolis area over the past three years. Revenue skyrocketed to more than $66 million last year.
A federal judge said Indiana can challenge an Internal Revenue Service rule that offers tax credits to Hoosiers who purchase health insurance on Obamacare’s federal marketplace, HealthCare.gov. According to Bloomberg News, U.S. District Judge William T. Lawrence in Indianapolis denied an IRS bid to dismiss that portion of the state’s 2013 lawsuit, in which it claimed the rule illegally conflicts with a provision of the federal law limiting those tax credits to enrollees in state-created exchanges. Lawrence’s ruling comes three weeks after U.S. appeals courts in Washington, D.C., and in Richmond, Virginia, reached conflicting conclusions about availability of the subsidy for which 4.5 million people have qualified. Indiana was one of the states that opted to not create an exchange. Lawrence, in his ruling, rejected U.S. contentions that Indiana and the 39 state public school systems that joined it in the suit would suffer no harm from the rule. Lawrence did, however, reject Indiana’s contention the mandate violated its sovereignty, ruling it, and 25 other states, lost that argument in the early stages of a 2010 Obamacare challenge that ended with the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the legislation as a valid exercise of Congress’ taxing authority.
Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. will change its name back to Anthem Inc., the brand under which it sells most of its coverage, according to Bloomberg News. The name change will be completed by the end of the year, pending shareholder approval, the company said in a statement. WellPoint will hold a shareholder vote on the change in November. WellPoint and other large health insurers find themselves increasingly marketing directly to consumers, as Obamacare requires most uninsured Americans to obtain coverage and employers thrust more responsibility for costs on their workers. The company sells plans in 14 of the health care law’s new insurance exchanges, in most cases under its Anthem brand. The company doesn't sell plans under the WellPoint name. WellPoint Inc. was formed in 2004 when Indianapolis-based insurer Anthem Inc. completed a $16.5 billion merger with California-based WellPoint Health Networks Inc. Anthem Inc. was originally formed in 1995 when Indianapolis-based insurer Associated Group merged with Cincinnati-based Community Mutual Insurance Co. Anthem demutualized and conducted an initial public offering in 2001.
Bloomington’s Monroe Hospital LLC, which has had a close relationship with Indianapolis-based St. Vincent Health, filed for bankruptcy reorganization on Aug. 15 and plans to sell its business to a Canadian hospital operator. The Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition, filed in federal court in Indianapolis, said the 32-bed hospital had more than twice as many liabilities as assets. It has been losing money due to low patient traffic in the face of cross-town competition from Indiana University Health’s Bloomington Hospital. Monroe and St. Vincent signed a management agreement two years ago, with St. Vincent taking responsibility for Monroe’s quality and safety efforts, finance functions, physician relations and patient satisfaction. St. Vincent also considered adding Monroe to its 22-hospital network. Those merger talks and St. Vincent’s management of those Monroe services ended last October, but longtime St. Vincent executive Joe Roche was installed as Monroe’s CEO. St. Vincent is now one of Monroe’s largest creditors, with the hospital owing St. Vincent’s physician group $170,000. St. Vincent physicians provide cardiac care and orthopedic surgeries to Monroe patients. Even after the hospital is sold to a new owner, St. Vincent will try to continue its clinical relationship with Monroe.
In two to three years, primary care clinics could be popping up in Walmart stores in rural Indiana while most rural Indiana hospitals will offer little to no inpatient services. That’s dramatically different from what we’re used to.
Mainstreet Property Group, already the fastest-growing company in the Indianapolis area, now has the fuel it needs to nearly triple its pace of construction of senior care facilities around the country.
Dr. William VanNess submitted his resignation last week as Indiana’s health commissioner, but plans to stay in his role until Gov. Mike Pence finds a replacement, according to the Associated Press. VanNess was appointed by Pence in January, a month after retiring as CEO of Community Hospital of Anderson.
Dr. Isra’a Khan, a pediatric hospitalist at Community Hospital North, has joined Community Physician Network. She received her medical degree at Dow Medical College in Karachi, Pakistan.
Suburban Health Organization named Dr. Craig Wilson chief medical officer. He will work to develop new ways for county-owned and not-for-profit hospitals in the organization to integrate their health care operations. Wilson previously served as chief medical officer of St. Vincent Fishers Hospital. He holds an undergraduate degree in medicine from the University of Queensland, Australia, and a master’s degree in health science from Duke University.
Franciscan Alliance, which operates three hospitals in the Indianapolis area, is seeing fewer patients this year but is making more money due to expense cuts.
Anthem patients in five U.S. cities, including Indianapolis, spent $220 less per MRI scan after Anthem told them of lower-cost facilities. In response, hospital-owned MRI facilities cut their prices.
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.
Brian Schroeder has been named administrative director of Eskenazi Health Wellness, Eskenazi Health Occupational Health and Eskenazi Health Volunteer Services. He previously worked as a clinical practice administrator for the obstetrics and gynecology department of the Indiana University School of Medicine. He holds a bachelor’s degree in public health and a master’s degree in health administration, both from Indiana University.
Dr. Beth Nagle, a family physician, has joined Franciscan Physician Network’s Beech Grove Family Medicine practice. She earned her medical degree at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine in Memphis and received her undergraduate degree in biology from Taylor University.
