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Hospitals brace for ‘errors’ rule: Financial impact of new Medicare policy still uncertain

Medicare’s new rule to refuse to pay hospitals for “preventable errors” hasn’t caused hospital administrators to lose sleep about lost revenue. But they do worry that the new rule, which went into effect Oct. 1, could increase the number of costly malpractice lawsuits filed against their hospitals. It’s not clear yet what the financial impact of Medicare’s new “no-pay” rule will be. But companies that make their money supplying hospitals with equipment and services have wasted no time using the…

INVESTING: Investors’ margin calls accelerated selling spree

After a tumultuous and historic couple of weeks, culminating Oct. 10-when stocks dropped 800 points as the market opened-investors stood on the edge of the abyss and stopped selling. Market participants arrived at the conclusion that, over that coming weekend, financial chiefs around the world would do whatever it took to rescue the financial system. And they did, by formulating measures to be undertaken by finance leaders across the globe that are unprecedented and wideranging, from supporting the commercial paper…

EYE ON THE PIE: Economic crisis explained, at last

I was uncomfortably challenged when Faye of the Forest landed on my deck a few days ago wanting to know what all these economic goings-on meant. “I’m responsible for teaching the elves,” she said, “and I don’t know what to tell them.” “I don’t know what to tell you,” I said. “But here’s what seems to me has happened.” “Some people,” I said, “are unable to make the payments on their mortgages. These mortgages are not held by the banks…

New airport terminal throws spotlight on art: Foundation to raise more money to finish major work

A group of professionals wearing hard hats walks into the climate-controlled pedestrian bridge that links a parking garage to the new terminal at Indianapolis International Airport. Circular ceiling fixtures light up in a pattern of red and blue, and a chorus of electronic-sounding sighs greets them: “Ahhh.” The playful, interactive installation by Los Angeles-based Electroland is called “Connections,” and it’s expected to become a favorite of the traveling public. The Indianapolis Airport Authority dedicated $3.89 million of the $1.1 billion…

Gubernatorial candidates Daniels, Thompson see economic development differently

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jill Long Thompson promises to buoy Indiana’s slumping rural counties with a three-tiered
incentive plan. Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels has a different vision for stoking the state economy. He wants to build on Indiana’s
strengths–such as world-class research at universities–to innovate and create jobs.

IU seeking funding to help alleviate doctor shortage: Medical school wants extra $5 million from Legislature to tackle projected shortfall of 1,300 physicians by 2025

An acute physician shortage in Indiana is driving a request for an additional $5 million in annual funding to expand enrollment at the state’s only medical school. The Indiana University School of Medicine’s Physician Workforce Task Force conducted a study in 2006 that found the state already had 3,500 fewer physicians than it should. Indiana had 12,534 doctors in 2005-a number that remains relatively flat because the medical school churns out the same number of graduates each year. Over the…

SPORTS Bill Benner: Get rid of Lynch? IU has numerous reasons not to

Critics are chirping like cicadas and basically singing the same song. One, get rid of Lynch, the sooner the better. And two, spend money, lots of it, on a “big-name” coach. If only it were as simple as the knee-jerks would have you believe. Perhaps they have forgotten, but Indiana has a lame-duck athletic director, Rick Greenspan, who won’t clean out his Assembly Hall office until Dec. 31. A search committee is vetting applicants. I’m told there are exceptional candidates…

Lenders foreclose on at least 20 properties in mortgage scheme

Charter Homes recruited and paid buyers to take out inflated mortgages on dozens of central Indiana homes it built, promising to manage the properties as rentals and make payments for the owners, current and former Charter business partners say.

VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Starting from scratch best hope for health care system

A person’s DNA may someday determine how doctors diagnose illness and prescribe affordable treatment. That same genetic makeup also might help doctors determine whether a person suffering from cancer might be predisposed to respond or not respond to chemotherapy or another type of innovative or experimental treatment. That future picture of health care delivery, however, is missing a key piece. It doesn’t address what those advancements might mean for health insurance and other related questions about medical coverage. Our current…

A&E: Sing out your dead: ‘Evil’ musical at TOTS

“What happens next?” is a fundamental element of the theater. It’s a question that, if planted properly in the heads of audience members, keeps them enthusiastically coming back after intermission. But in “Evil Dead: the Musical,” the intermission question isn’t so much, “What happens next?” as it is, “What body part will be cut off next?” And, “How much of the spattering blood will reach me here in the third row?” I’m no fan of spoilers, so I won’t answer…

VIEWPOINT: Put progress over politics and enact reform

As we approach the final stretch in this year’s election season, it’s easy to get desensitized to the political rhetoric. Sometimes, though, there’s an issue that transcends the partisan divide and deserves to cut through the clutter: Local government reform is such an issue. Indiana’s Constitution created a multilayered system of county, township and municipal government in 1851. This might have been appropriate when most travel was by horseback, but today it’s left Hoosiers to support more than 3,000 units…

Former rocker rolling along in pizza business: Puccini’s founder has 13 locations and counting

For much of his adult life, Don Main was a rocker rather than a restaurateur. But fate-along with a pressing need to find a more profitable line of work-drove him to seek his fortune in a kitchen rather than onstage. Main, president and co-owner of Puccini’s Smiling Teeth, began his peculiar career change back in 1990, after a decadeand-a-half stint as a professional-but not very well-paid-musician. At age 36, the bassist and lead vocalist for the band The Late Show…

FUNNY BUSINESS: The art of letter writing: before the text generation

My sister’s kids, Deniece and Denephew, think it is just hilarious to watch their fumbling uncle trying to send a text message-which has recently become the No. 1 use of cell phones, instead of talking. I poke and prod one measly letter at a time. Meanwhile, the kids-with agile thumbs and secondnature knowledge of a cell phone touch pad-are incredible. To watch them is to see an intricate ballet of the opposable digits (pas de pouces) performed at lightning speed….

Naming-rights deal puts Lucas Oil in competitive position

Emboldened by the deal he signed to put his company’s name on the Indianapolis Colts’ new home, Forrest Lucas has launched
an arsenal of creative-some would say unorthodox-initiatives to fortify his growing company. Many of them are designed to
help Lucas Oil Products Inc. go head to head with the oil industry’s biggest players.

Ex-Lilly executives open ‘trials’ clinic: Centurion expects high demand from drug firms

A new clinic that is on the cusp of conducting human trials in Indianapolis could distinguish itself as a key player in drug development, not only within the state, but nationally as well. Centurion Clinical Research LLC serves pharmaceutical companies and medical-device makers that need to test their products before they can be approved for widespread use. That first phase, in which healthy people are paid to participate in the overnight studies, is critical in determining the safety and success…

Commentary: We’re all in danger of motion sickness

(Author’s note: I submitted this column Oct. 14, with full knowledge that the world may have come to an end by the time it is published.) It’s swing time. Candidates for office, state and federal, are swinging and slinging mud at one another. In a last-ditch effort to scare voters, Sarah Palin accused Barack Obama of hanging out with Bill Ayers, co-founder of the Weathermen, a militant group of the 1970s. In reality, by the time Ayers met Obama, his…

BEHIND THE NEWS: Lechleiter went toe to toe with Icahn to cut megadeal

Eli Lilly and Co. had been salivating over ImClone Systems Inc. for more than two years when, on July 25 of this year, its senior executives received a formal staff recommendation to contact the company and make an overture. So it must have come as quite a jolt to Lilly brass when, just six days later, Bristol-Myers Squibb announced that it was offering to buy the 83 percent of ImClone it didn’t already own for $60 a share, or $4.5…

VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Worksite wellness encourages steps to healthier firm

Over the past several years, employers have seen a movement from traditional PPO health plans to consumer-driven health plans, by implementing qualified high-deductible plans such as health savings accounts. This shift has been viewed by most to have initially lowered overall employer and employee cost, but more importantly, it has gotten the employee more involved in their health care choices. Fortunately, consumer-driven health care plans are not the only answer in reducing employer costs. According to the Towers Perrin 2008…

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: We shouldn’t let market mayhem obscure progress

Amid all this joyless market watching, this much is clear: The financial markets and the economy are going to get worse before they get better. But market watching is never a healthy sport, especially since it tends to make us lose track of the real economy at times like these. Over the past couple of weeks, the real economy has shown a bit of resilience. And here in Indiana, really great news has been lost in the wake of the…