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The Warsaw-based makers of orthopedic implants could be hurt by a new plan floated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to target "unnecessary" medical device claims, according to the trade publication MassDevice. Medicare officials will ask doctors to provide up-front justification for certain medical equipment, especially for orthopedic and cardiac devices. The program, set to launch in 11 states next month, will flip the reimbursement system from the agency's existing "pay-and-chase" method of looking for improper payments after they've already been made. It’s more bad news for orthopedics companies—including Warsaw’s Zimmer Holdings Inc., Biomet Inc. and DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. They have already been hurt by the recession and high unemployment, as jobless patients have put off elective surgeries. The companies are also bracing for a new industry tax instituted by the 2010 health care overhaul.

Batesville-based Hill-Rom Holdings Inc. has agreed to acquire Germany-based Volker Group for $85 million in cash, pending regulatory approvals. Volker makes bed frames and other furniture for long-term care and hospital facilities. The company, which sells mainly in Europe and other foreign markets, had 2010 revenue of roughly $100 million. Hill-Rom also makes hospital beds and other equipment, as well as provides information technology components to enhance the performance of its products. Hill-Rom said Volker’s business would strengthen its product offerings in Europe, and would boost its 2012 earnings by 2 cents or 3 cents per share. The transaction is expected to close within the first quarter of 2012.

Shares of Endocyte Inc. plummeted nearly 70 percent after clinical trial results announced Dec. 13 showed the company’s experimental ovarian cancer drug led to shorter overall survival times than treatment with a standard cancer drug. Some analysts called the sell-off an overreaction, but shares of the West Lafayette-based company remained depressed nearly a week after the news. Endocyte officials stressed that the study of the drug EC145 did not include enough patients to be statistically meaningful in terms of overall survival. Also, they noted that survival rates for patients taking standard therapy were several months longer than seen in any other study. Previous clinical trial results released by Endocyte have shown that EC145 significantly increases the length of progression-free survival for ovarian cancer patients who have cancers that are resistant to treatment with common platinum-based drugs. Investors, however, assumed the worst. In the Phase 2 trial results reported Dec. 13, patients taking EC145 with the cancer drug Doxil survived a median length of 14.1 months, which was longer than in any previous study of the drug. But patients taking Doxil alone experienced median survival rates of 16.9 months.

Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. is feuding with St. Louis-based pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts Inc., according to the Associated Press. Express Scripts said WellPoint, the second-largest health insurer in the nation, has raised the possibility of filing a lawsuit over contract terms and Express Scripts’ performance under that contract. But Express Scripts officials also said the companies are negotiating, and they believe they can resolve the dispute. WellPoint is disputing the implementation of some terms of the contract and "certain operational matters associated with Express Scripts' performance" under those terms. The contract between the companies went into effect on Dec. 1, 2009, after WellPoint sold its pharmacy benefit management business to Express Scripts.