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 […]
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.
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.
The Mishawaka-based Franciscan Alliance plans to spend $8.4 million to open an administrative center in Greenwood, creating 84 jobs in the next four years.
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.
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.
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.
Tippecanoe County residents may despise Indiana University sports teams, but they seem to have had no problem welcoming IU to their community to provide health care.
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.
Visiting Nurse Service Inc., a 200-employee agency based in Indianapolis, will operate under the umbrella of Franciscan St. Francis Health, the organizations announced Thursday.
Bob Brody, CEO of Franciscan St. Francis Health, which operates three hospitals in central Indiana as part of the 13-hospital Franciscan Alliance system, discussed the rationale for its decision to take control of Visiting Nurse Service Inc.
Indianapolis may be reaching a saturation point for hospitals employing physicians, according to the latest report from the Center for Studying Health System Change.
Eli Lilly and Co. lost the first round of its family legal dispute with Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. The California-based company won an injunction that prevents Indianapolis-based Lilly from using the same sales force to sell the Amylin-created drug Byetta as well as a new drug called Tradjenta, made by Germany-based Boerhinger Ingelheim GmbH. Both drugs are for patients with Type 2 diabetes, and therefore would compete against each other. Byetta is an injectable medicine and Tradjenta is an oral agent. Lilly said it is disappointed with the first ruling and will keep fighting Amylin’s lawsuit.
Franklin-based Johnson Memorial Hospital and Indianapolis-based Community Health Network will put their clinical collaboration agreement into effect June 1. The agreement was reached in February, after Johnson Memorial also considered proposals from Franciscan St. Francis and Indiana University Health. The deal, while not an acquisition, solidifies Community’s presence in the fast-growing southern suburbs of Indianapolis, where it already maintains a 150-bed hospital along County Line Road. Johnson Memorial, located nearly 15 miles south, is licensed for 101 beds. Hospitals and doctors are being pushed by health insurance plans to partner up to keep patients healthy—both before and after they actually seek medical care. But Community and Johnson Memorial are also looking to expand their offerings, particularly for heart patients.
Advion BioServices, a subsidiary of New York-based Advion BioSciences Inc., has opened its 22,000-square-foot drug-discovery and bioanalytical laboratory at the Purdue Research Park of Indianapolis' technology center at the Ameriplex Business Park near the Indianapolis International Airport. The new facility, staffed with 50 employees, was announced in March. Advion, a contract-research organization, will focus on earlier-stage, drug-discovery and metabolism bioanalytical services that evaluate how a potential new medicine is absorbed and metabolized in experimental models. Many of these services generate the data needed to prepare a molecule for human trials.
Indianapolis-based BioStorage Technologies announced Thursday it has opened a 60,000-square-foot biorepository facility in Indianapolis. The $4.6 million facility, located near the Indianapolis International Airport, will be used to prepare, store and transport tissue and blood samples. BioStorage serves biotech companies, such as Massachusetts-based Biogen Idec, as well as medical-device makers such as Minnesota-based Medtronic Inc. and academic research institutions. The facility will allow BioStorage to prepare samples for its clients via automated equipment, which the company says provides the accuracy needed by high-volume medical researchers. BioStorage, founded in 2002, is one of a handful of central Indiana companies that have developed a specialty in life sciences logistics. Others include Indianapolis-based Sentry BioPharma Services Inc., Plainfield-based MD Logistics Inc., and Bloomington-based BioConvergence LLC.
Over the last three years, all major hospitals in Indianapolis have been active in hiring physicians. Competition was especially intense for cardiologists.
