Home » Search
Search Results
606 results for 'franciscan health'
- Sort By
-
Date
- Any Time
- Past Day
- Past Week
- Past Month
- Past Year
-
Custom Date Range
Articles
Apartments, shops planned for old Beech Grove hospital site
Dubbed Franciscan Place, the $20 million development will feature 150-plus senior-living apartments, shops and a restaurant in the old hospital. Work is expected to begin in February.
People
State Health Commissioner Dr. Greg Larkin will become chief medical officer of Indianapolis-based OurHealth, a provider of employer on-site clinic services, after he ends his service with the state in early January. Gov. Mitch Daniels, who is leaving office in January, appointed Larkin to the position in 2010, replacing Dr. Judy Monroe. Larkin previously spent much of his career as Eli Lilly and Co.’s director of corporate health service and served as global medical director. After retiring from Lilly in 2007, Larkin served as the first chief medical officer of the Indiana Health Information Exchange, which promotes health information technology for the advancement of patient and community care.
Terri S. Ruff has been appointed executive director of Franciscan St. Francis Heart Center, starting on Jan. 6. Ruff will succeed Michael Hertel, who had led the heart center since 2006. Since 2002, Ruff has overseen all radiological programs at Franciscan St. Francis Health. Ruff holds a bachelor’s degree in health arts, a master’s degree in health care administration and an MBA from the University of St. Francis.
Indiana University Health Orthopedics and Sports Medicine named Dr. Walter Virkus as its director of orthopedic trauma services. He will be based at IU Health’s Methodist Hospital. Virkus spent the last 12 years in Chicago at Rush University Medical Center. He also served as chairman of orthopedics at the Stroger Hospital of Cook County. Virkus holds a bachelor’s degree from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa., and a medical degree from the New Jersey Medical School in Newark.
Dr. Todd McKinley, an orthopedic trauma surgeon, has joined IU Health Orthopedics and Sports Medicine. Before joining IU Health, McKinley served as a professor and orthopedic surgeon for trauma services at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. He earned his bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering and mechanics from the University of Minnesota Institute of Technology and received his medical degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School.
Dr. Anthony Sorkin, an orthopedic trauma surgeon, has joined IU Health Orthopedics and Sports Medicine. Before joining IU Health, Sorkin served as director of orthopedic traumatology for Rockford Orthopedics, an orthopedic multi-specialty physician group, and as a professor at both Rush University Medical Center and the University of Illinois College of Medicine. He earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Miami and received his medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Dr. Michael Zlowodzki, an orthopedic trauma surgeon, has joined IU Health Orthopedics and Sports Medicine. He earned his medical degree from the University of Hamburg in Germany and his doctorate from Humboldt University in Berlin.
St. Vincent Medical Group recruited three orthopedic surgeons to provide care at Monroe Hospital in Bloomington, St. Vincent Dunn Hospital in Bedford and St. Vincent Jennings Hospital in North Vernon. The practice of Dr. Michael Ferrell, Dr. John Hammerstein and Dr. Brian Murphy will change its name from PremierOrtho to St. Vincent Medical Group Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, and will be based in Bloomington. Ferrell is a former commander in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps. He did his medical training at Virginia Commonwealth University. Hammerstein and Murphy did their medical training at the Indiana University Medical School.
Company news
Catamaran Corp. will add 50 jobs in Indianapolis over the next year to help it provide pharmacy-benefit-management services to the Indiana Medicaid program. The Illinois-based company will open an office downtown Tuesday to kick off its six-year, $60 million contract with the state. The contract, which officially begins April 1, pledges Catamaran to help Indiana Medicaid control the $800 million it spends every year to provide prescription drugs to Medicaid recipients. Catamaran will process Indiana Medicaid’s 12.5 million annual pharmacy claims, run clinical and technical call centers, handle electronic prescriptions and manage specialty medications. The Indianapolis office, located at 150 W. Market St., will house pharmacists, technicians and support staff.
Two investors in Indianapolis are trying to raise money to fill the gap in early-stage funding for life sciences companies in the Midwest. San Francisco-based CMEA Capital is trying to raise $100 million for early-stage life sciences investments, according to multiple people briefed by CMEA’s Midwest partner in the fund, Kent Hawryluk. Hawryluk, a co-founder of Carmel-based drug development firm Marcadia Biotech, will oversee Midwest investments of the fund from Indianapolis, with a focus on biotech and pharmaceutical companies, according to people familiar with his plans. In addition, Oscar Moralez, managing director of the StepStone Angels network, plans to start pitching a new fund to investors early next year. His plans are to raise $10 million to $20 million to invest in technology companies, including life sciences firms, in Indiana and surrounding states. “We feel the timing is right,” said Moralez. He described the fund he wants to raise as, in part, a "sidecar" to help the seven companies now supported by StepStone Angels—six of which are life sciences companies—to continue to get the cash they need to grow.
Due to the closing of Franciscan St. Francis Health’s Beech Grove hospital, Select Specialty Hospital-Beech Grove relocated from Beech Grove to a new freestanding location at 8060 Knue Road in the Castleton neighborhood. In its new location, Select Specialty Hospital has 45 beds, on-site CT machines, lab services, a rehabilitation area and a cafeteria. The hospital will now be called Select Specialty Hospital – Indianapolis.A North Carolina-based maker of cancer-fighting ultrasound machines plans to create 27 jobs at its Indianapolis facility over the next three years. US HIFU LLC will add positions paying an average of $36 an hour at its offices at 4000 Pendleton Way, on the northeast side of the city along Interstate 465 near Pendleton Pike. The company already employs 15 people at that location. The new jobs are for engineers, researchers and support personnel to help US HIFU make its Sonablate 500 system, which uses "high-intensity and focused ultrasound" to treat cancer with fewer side effects. US HIFU, founded in 2004, has yet to receive regulatory approval for its technology, but the company is studying it in a U.S. clinical trial for treating prostate cancer and around the world as a potential treatment for other cancers. The new jobs were announced Monday morning by the Indiana Economic Development Corp., which promised the company up to $350,000 in conditional tax credits and up to $50,000 in training grants. Also, the company has applied to Marion County for property tax abatement.
Novia CareClinics LLC opened the first multi-employer clinic for downtown employers Monday at its headquarters at 429 N. Pennsylvania St. Novia, which operates 50 clinics statewide, made its latest clinic open to other employers. Harrison College, the law firm Plews Shadley Racher & Braun LLP and McFarling Foods Inc. have joined so far. The 1,200-square-foot health and wellness center, first made public in July, will be staffed with a physician and nurses, offering primary care services 40 hours per week. The four companies using it have more than 500 employees combined at locations in or near downtown. Novia has said it needs to sign up 1,000 employees to make the cost per employee reasonable. If employer demand proves high, Novia could expand its downtown clinic to as large as 2,000 square feet, add a second physician or nurse practitioner, and serve as many as 2,000 employees.
European Union regulators have agreed to review the drug vintafolide, discovered by West Lafayette-based Endocyte Inc., bringing it one step closer to reaching the market. Endocyte and its development partner, New Jersey-based Merck & Co. Inc., said the European Medicines Agency will review vintafolide, formerly known as EC145, as a treatment for ovarian cancer that is resistant to platinum-based chemotherapy. The agency also will review their application for an imaging agent that can help identify patients most likely to benefit from the drug. According to the Associated Press, vintafolide and the diagnostic agent both have orphan drug status, which means competing products will be barred from the market for up to 10 years if they are approved. Merck will pay Endocyte $5 million because the application was accepted.
The government dropped its antitrust concerns about health insurer WellPoint Inc.'s proposed acquisition of Amerigroup Corp. last week, clearing WellPoint to proceed with the $4.9 billion deal. According to the Associated Press, U.S. Department of Justice officials had objected to the proposed merger because WellPoint and Amerigroup are the only providers of Medicaid managed care plans in northern Virginia. To address that concern, Amerigroup agreed to sell its Virginia business, Amerigroup Virginia Inc., to Inova Health System Foundation. It did not disclose financial terms of that deal, which was announced in September and is conditioned on the closing of the WellPoint-Amerigroup merger. The sale to Inova ensures that Medicaid users will have at least two options for managed care, the Justice Department said.
VC funds hope to help early-stage life sciences firms
Early-stage venture capital has been harder and harder to come by for life sciences companies in recent years, but two Indianapolis investors are working to raise sizable funds to help fill the gap.
People
Indianapolis-based regulatory consulting firm Anson Group named Scott Thiel its director of connected health operations. In that role, he will help Anson’s customers commercialize wireless, mobile and networked technologies. Before joining Anson in 2011, Thiel served as a global regulatory affairs manager at Roche Diagnostics Corp. He holds degrees from Ball State University and Indiana Wesleyan University.
Anson Group named Scott Durlacher its director of compliance. Durlacher has worked with Anson since 2009, serving as the lead on several compliance projects. He holds degrees from Purdue University and Vanderbilt University.
Jeanelle Regal has been appointed director for Senior Promise, a Franciscan St. Francis Health-based program that provides insurance services to Hoosiers 50 and older. Regal received a bachelor’s in psychology from Andrews University in Michigan, and later earned a master’s in social work at Indiana University.
People
Dr. Huma Khan, a family physician and obstetrician, has joined Franciscan Physician Network as part of its South 31 Family Care practice. She previously practiced at St. Vincent Dunn Hospital in Bedford. Khan earned her medical degree in Pakistan and completed residency training at Marquette General Hospital in Michigan. Khan also received a master’s degree in public health from the University of New Mexico.
Company news
Diagnotes LLC, an Indianapolis-based developer of health care software, won the inaugural Hoosier Healthcare Innovation Challenge held by the economic development group Develop Indy. Diagnotes and two other finalists, CreateIT and Freedom Solutions, presented product demonstrations at the annual conference of the Indiana Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. Diagnotes’ On Call software, which delivers patient medical records to smartphones of an on-call doctor, won $5,000 for taking first place. Diagnotes also won the business competition that was part of the Indiana Life Sciences Summit, staged by Indianapolis-based BioCrossroads, in October.
In a bid to compete for cancer patients with Indiana University Health and St. Vincent Health, Community Health Network will make its North and East hospitals affiliates of the University of Texas’ MD Anderson Cancer Center. MD Anderson, one of the best-known treatment centers for cancer, will certify the cancer physicians at the two hospitals and give Community access to the evidence-based treatment and follow-up plans developed by MD Anderson. “This is a game changer for our network,” Bryan Mills, CEO of Indianapolis-based Community Health Network, said in a prepared statement. “Professionals in the medical field know the MD Anderson name very well, as it’s the gold standard for cancer care.” Community also plans to seek MD Anderson Cancer Network certification at its hospitals in Anderson, Kokomo and on the south side of Indianapolis.
Advantage Health Solutions Inc. suffered a security breach that potentially affects members of the Franciscan Alliance accountable care organization. The breach occurred Oct. 19 when a subcontractor of Indianapolis-based Advantage mailed generic health questionnaires to 2,575 beneficiaries with individual identification numbers inadvertently displayed. No personal health or financial information was disclosed. Advantage, which provides care management and data services for the Franciscan ACO, said it is offering free credit monitoring to all members of the health plan.
West Lafayette-based Tymora Analytical Operations LLC received $300,000 from the National Institutes of Health to help it develop technology to help researchers develop drugs to treat cancer and diabetes, as well as immune and neurological disorders. The company’s technology, called PolyMAC, is based on research by Andy Tao, a Purdue University professor of biochemistry. Tymora received a $150,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health this year, and has also received a $150,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. All the grants are part of the federal government's Small Business Innovation Research, or SBIR, program.
Community Health venture to commercialize innovations
Community Health Network thinks it can help patients, engage doctors and maybe even make some money by trying to turn ideas within its organization into commercial products, services and companies. It’s the latest in a string of efforts to capitalize on problem-solving that goes on inside local hospitals. The Indianapolis-based hospital system this month announced […]
Community to commercialize innovations
Community Health Network thinks it can help patients, engage doctors and maybe even make some money by trying to turn ideas within its organization into commercial products, service and companies.
Indianapolis tech firms, hospitals discover mutual need
An initiative is matching tech entrepreneurs with hospital officials in the hope of solving health care problems.
People in the news
People listings are free. Information must be submitted at least 11 days before the Monday issue in which it is to appear. Publication of information might be delayed due to space limitations. To submit information and photos online go to www.ibj.com and use the People submissions form. Photos may be sent as jpegs, 300 dpi […]
Company news
Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc.’s $4.9 billion acquisition of Virginia-based Amerigroup Corp. is expected to be approved Oct. 23 after Amerigroup officials agreed to delay a shareholder vote for two weeks to resolve investors’ claims they were being shortchanged in the deal, according to Bloomberg News and Dow Jones Newswires. Amerigroup officials said they would consider new offers to buy the company, but with shareholder advisory groups Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. and Glass Lewis & Co. both endorsing the deal, new offers are not expected to materialize. The acquisition, announced July 9, would make WellPoint–already the second-largest U.S. health insurer–the largest private provider of Medicaid plans for low-income patients. Amerigroup helps states manage health coverage for the poor. Some investors sued Amerigroup’s board in August alleging directors, along with financial adviser Goldman Sachs Group Inc., put their own interests ahead of shareholders by backing the WellPoint offer when there was a second suitor that had expressed interest.
WellPoint Inc.’s National Government Services unit will add more than 100 jobs in Indianapolis beginning late this year or early in 2013 after the health insurance giant won a new contract with the federal Medicare program. The contract, awarded in late September, makes WellPoint’s NGS unit the administrator for hospital and physician bills racked up by 2.7 million seniors on Medicare in Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin. It also puts NGS in charge of home health and hospice bills for Medicare recipients in 13 states and five U.S. territories. If NGS keeps the contract for its maximum five-year term, the deal will bring in an estimated $318 million in revenue and account for roughly 20 percent of all NGS revenue. In May, WellPoint was forced to lay off 112 local workers after it lost a separate Medicare contract for Indiana and Michigan. WellPoint officials said a “large majority” of those employees will be asked back to work on the new contract. The new contract will add 200 to 300 workers to NGS, with half or more of those jobs being added in Indianapolis. The balance of the new positions will be added at an NGS office in Milwaukee. NGS now employs 2,000 people, including about 500 in Indianapolis. Winning the contract also helps NGS hold on to some workers that it might have had to let go. All told, more than 450 NGS employees will work on the new contract. Those employees will do claims processing, information technology support, and audit and reimbursement reviews of Medicare bills. NGS also will hire nurses to conduct medical reviews of claims.
Indianapolis-based Dow AgroSciences LLC acquired the assets of California-based Cal/West Seeds, which supplies alfalfa, clover and other crops to seed companies and growers in the United States, Canada and 25 other countries around the world. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. “Cal/West fits our business model–they are not only a technology developer in their industry, but also have a strong genetics program which will strengthen our forages business,” said Rolando Meninato, the global leader of Dow Agro’s seeds, traits and oils business. The Cal/West acquisition will complement another alfalfa company Dow AgroSciences acquired in 2008, called Dairyland Seed, and will give Dow Agro one of the largest forages businesses in the industry. Dow Agro is a subsidiary of Michigan-based Dow Chemical Co.
Indiana Wesleyan University’s School of Health Sciences, which is under construction in Marion, will add graduate degree programs in physical therapy, occupational therapy, athletic training and public health. "Many professionals engaged in the health professions may desire to earn graduate or advanced degrees while entry-level positions now require graduate degrees," said Larry Lindsay, founding dean of the School of Health Sciences. "We are responding to the future needs of those students in the health professions. Thus we seek to become a major Christian provider of health and human services at the local, state, national and global level." A new building to house the school is expected to be ready to open in fall 2014. In 2010, Indiana Wesleyan lost out to Marian University as the site of a new medical school in Indiana. Indiana Wesleyan is an evangelical Christian university of The Wesleyan Church, founded in 1920. It enrolls more than 3,000 students on its campus in Marion and more than 12,000 at satellite education centers in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and over the Internet.
The Franciscan Alliance hospital system has absorbed Medical Specialists, a 55-physician practice in northwest Indiana. The group of primary care providers and specialists is now called Franciscan Medical Specialists, and provides care in such fields as endocrinology, OB-GYN, orthopedics, pulmonary medicine and rheumatology. It has offices in Munster, Dyer, Hammond, Hobart, La Porte, Merrillville, Michigan City, Schererville and Valparaiso. Franciscan Alliance, which is headquartered in Mishawaka, operates 13 hospitals in Indiana and Illinois, including three in the Indianapolis area.
St. Vincent, Community team up, forming colossus
Three area hospital groups—St. Vincent Health, Community Health Network and Suburban Health Organization—have agreed to join forces to manage patients’ health and strike new kinds of contracts with employers and health insurers.
Try this text for HC life sciences power breakfast transcript
WALL: One of the big changes coming out of the 2010 health reform law is a push for health care providers to provide care more based on value, a little less based on volume of services. One concept toward that goal is this accountable care organization concept. It’s similar in many ways to health maintenance […]