Remaining grant money will be invested to beef up the infrastructure of the Indiana Network for Patient Care, a health information exchange operated by the Indianapolis-based Regenstrief Institute.
The company saw sales surge after introducing software in May that helps medical labs manage their disparate computer systems from a Web portal.
Franciscan St. Francis Health entered an exclusive-provider agreement with Greenwood-based Indiana Internal Medicine Consultants, one of the largest physician groups working at Franciscan’s hospitals. The practice has 37 doctors specializing in family practice, internal medicine, infectious disease and sleep medicine. The tighter relationship, which took effect Oct. 1, is designed to help Franciscan function as an accountable care organization. That concept, promoted in the 2010 health reform law, calls for hospitals and doctors to work together to care for a specific population of patients—and have some of their pay hinge on how well they maintain the health of that population. Hospitals around Indianapolis and the nation have been acquiring physician practices or entering tight contractual relationships, such as Franciscan’s exclusive-provider agreement, which will not allow Indiana Internal Medicine’s doctors to practice at hospitals outside the Franciscan chain. Franciscan operates hospitals in Beech Grove, Indianapolis and Mooresville.
The pain isn’t ending for the Warsaw-based makers of orthopedic implants. Democrats from the House Energy and Commerce Committee have asked Republican leaders to hold hearings on metal-on-metal hips, saying they have caused "significant harm to human health". The FDA is conducting its own review of metal-on-metal, having requested post-market data from about 20 companies, including Warsaw-based DePuy Orthopaedics, Zimmer and Biomet, as well as New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson.
Bloomington-based Cook Medical Inc.’s drug-coated stent to treat blocked femoral arteries is sailing toward approval. The Zilver PTX got an 11-0 approval vote from a panel of outside advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to Bloomberg News. The FDA does not have to follow the recommendations of its advisory panels, but it usually does. The device would be the first drug-coated stent approved in the U.S. to treat peripheral vascular disease in the largest artery of the upper leg. It would be an alternative to bypass surgery, angioplasty or the use of a stent without a coating of a drug, paclitaxel, which is designed to reduce the build-up of new fatty deposits. Peripheral arterial disease affects 8 million to 12 million people in the U.S., according to the Peripheral Arterial Disease Coalition, and can lead to heart attacks and strokes.
Dr. Nicholas M. Barbaro has been named chairman of the department of neurological surgery at the Indiana University School of Medicine and the first medical director of the new Indiana University Health Neurosciences Center of Excellence. Barbaro will join IU on Nov. 1 after departing the University of California-San Francisco medical school, where he oversees neurosurgery residents and is conducting a federally funded study of epilepsy. Barbaro will succeed Dr. Paul Nelson, who is retiring.
Tom Laux will step down in March as CEO of Indiana University Health Morgan Hospital in Martinsville. Laux has led the county-owned hospital since 1999 and engineered its merger with Indianapolis-based IU Health.
Dr. Bill VanNess will retire at the end of 2012 as CEO of Community Hospital Anderson. VanNess, an Anderson native and family physician, has led the hospital, which is affiliated with Indianapolis-based Community Health Network, since 1997.
Bryce Carmine, president of Eli Lilly and Co.’s bio-medicines division, and Frank Deane, president of Lilly’s global manufacturing operations, both will retire on Dec. 31. They have worked at the Indianapolis-based drugmaker for 36 and 33 years, respectively. Dave Ricks, president of Lilly’s U.S. subsidiary, will become chief of the bio-medicines unit. That division oversees sales in the United States, Europe and Japan of some of Lilly’s most lucrative drugs, including the antipsychotic Zyprexa, the antidepressant Cymbalta and the anti-impotence pill Cialis. Succeeding Deane will be Maria Crowe, now senior vice president for global drug product manufacturing. Lilly also announced that Alex Azar, its vice president of U.S. managed health care services, will replace Ricks as head of Lilly USA.
Two veterans of vintage ware are partnering to open the store on the near-east side corridor, which has seen a spate of redevelopment tied to the 2012 Super Bowl Legacy Project.
The hospitals owned by Boone and Hamilton counties are following the lead of Indianapolis-based Wishard Health Services and its parent organization by acquiring far-flung nursing homes, hoping the strategy proves as lucrative.
Dr. David Roodman has been named director of hematology oncology at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center. He also will begin Nov. 15 as a professor at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Four researchers from his bone disease lab at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine will move with him. Over the past 10 years, Roodman has received significant financial support for his research, including more than $13.2 million in grant funding from the National Institutes of Health. He was recruited to IU through a physician scientist initiative funded by a $60 million grant from Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc.
Dr. Justin Smith has joined the St. Vincent Physician Network in Fishers. He offers primary care to all ages and has a special interest in sports medicine and preventive care. Smith has a bachelor’s degree from Butler University and did his medical training at the Indiana University School of Medicine.
Krystal L. Cole, a certified physician’s assistant, has joined Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeons with St. Francis Medical Group. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Indiana University and did her physician assistant studies at Western University of Health Sciences in California.
Nicole G. Barnes, a registered dietitian, has been appointed clinical nutrition manager for Franciscan St. Francis Health. Since 2006, she has served as a clinical dietitian for the hospital system. Barnes received a master’s degree in dietetics at D’Youville College in Buffalo, N.Y. She also holds a bachelor’s degree from Pennsylvania State University.
A few years back, the Indianapolis-based American College of Sports Medicine created the American Fitness Index, ranking the 50 largest U.S. metro areas. To no surprise, the Indianapolis area has never ranked well—coming in 44th last year and 45th this year. But now, the College of Sports Medicine is piloting a program—in Indianapolis and Oklahoma City—that will try to do something about it. The college, which includes physicians, researchers and other health professionals, will interview leaders in both cities to identify key areas for action, then offer expert assistance to launch efforts to boost physical activity, and try to reduce rates of smoking, obesity and other maladies. The goal is to add four additional cities in 2012 and 2013 each, bringing the total to 10 communities that will receive tailored technical assistance. The Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation and the YMCA of Greater Indianapolis are both supporting the pilot.
BioCrossroads’ Indiana Seed Fund has invested $300,000 in a startup company developing an absorbable stent to treat cardiovascular disease. Zorion Medical is chaired by former Eli Lilly and Co. executive David Broecker, who has moved to Indianapolis from Boston. Broecker, a Wabash College graduate in chemistry and mathematics, previously was president and CEO of Cambridge, Mass.-based biopharmaceutical company Alkermes Inc. Broecker also is CEO of BioCritica Inc., a locally based firm founded last May that acquired commercialization rights to Lilly’s Xigris, a drug to treat the blood infection sepsis. Zorion developed a stent that can be absorbed into the body—as opposed to existing stents made of metal. The biomaterial also can deliver drugs to help heal the artery.
Los Angeles-based CBRE Inc. says Indiana University Health is cheating it out of commissions related to several real estate deals in Indianapolis, Lafayette, Frankfort and Mooresville. Most notable is IU Health’s canceled plan for a $73 million administrative office building at 16th Street and Capitol Avenue, which would have been built near a $120 million neuroscience hub across the street from IU Health's Methodist Hospital campus. IU Health instead purchased the Gateway Tower plaza at 10th and Illinois streets to house administrative staff. Officials told IBJ in March the price was so good on Gateway Plaza—where the hospital system already rents 130,000 square feet—that they couldn’t refuse. Attorneys for IU Health declined to comment because the ligitation is pending.
The California-based St. Baldrick’s Foundation, which raises money for childhood cancer research, awarded a $145,566 grant to Dr. Jodi Skiles, a pediatric researcher at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Her research, conducted in the United States and in Kenya, will focus on developing individualized dosing regimens of vincristine, a core anticancer agent used in many childhood cancers, which reaches toxic levels for some patients much more quickly than others.
Two veterans of vintage retail are teaming up to open a store on a near-east-side corridor that’s getting renewed attention from the 2012 Super Bowl Legacy Project.
RepuChek software tracks, analyzes what’s being said about doctors on the Internet.
Indianapolis-based Westview Hospital might be on the hook for $160,000 because its advisers used a fax machine to tell Lehman Brothers it was canceling a financial agreement.
The grant is the fifth consecutive five-year grant the Alzheimer Disease Center has received from NIH to support research to understand the causes and potential treatments for Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.
Dr. James M. Williams has been appointed vice president of medical affairs at Westview Medical Campus, an affiliate of Indianapolis-based Community Health Network. Williams, a family practice physician, did his medical training at the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Indianapolis-based health care law firm Hall Render Killian Heath & Lyman P.C. added Mary Kate McNamara to its Indianapolis office. McNamara, who earned her law degree at Vanderbilt University, focuses her practice in labor and employment law.
Offers for XLHealth, a provider of managed care for chronically ill Medicare members, may value the company at $1.5 billion to $2 billion.
XL Health specializes in chronically ill Medicare members, could help WellPoint profits as baby boomers age.
