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Indianapolis-based Adult and Child Center won $2 million from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to improve access to primary care for Americans with serious mental illnesses. Such patients die, on average, 25 years earlier than those without such conditions, according to a 2006 report by the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors. During the four-year project, Adult and Child will have a primary-care physician and nurse care coordinator available to patients at its mental health center. The medical staff will try to address patients with mental illnesses who also suffer from chronic diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity.
A $1.9 million federal stimulus grant will enable the Indiana University School of Medicine's department of family medicine to add two residents a year in the Lafayette area. IU’s family medicine residency program currently accepts 10 doctors annually for post-med-school training as family physicians. The grant will enable the program to add two residency slots in collaboration with Clarian Arnett Health, St. Elizabeth Regional Health and Riggs Community Health Center in Lafayette. IU med school officials hope graduates of the residency program will set up medical practices in and around Lafayette, which like much of Indiana has a shortage of primary-care physicians. The expansion of the residency program will be effective in July 2011.
Lilly Endowment Inc. gave $4 million to Indiana University to help address ethical, legal and social issues involved in the growing sharing and study of health information. IU will create the Center for Law, Ethics and Applied Research in Health Information (CLEAR Health Information). The center also will partner with government, industry and not-for-profit groups in an effort to increase reliability and trust in the use of health information.
Columbus Regional Hospital is suing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to recover $17.1 million in federal funds the hospital claims it is owed due to damages caused by a massive flood. The June 2008 flood, designated a federal disaster, caused $167 million in damages and business-income losses to the hospital, which did not fully reopen until nearly five months later. The suit, filed Sept. 15 in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis, accuses FEMA of violating federal regulations, negligence and misrepresentation for failing to pay the full amount the hospital says it is owed. The flooding from nearby Haw Creek filled the hospital’s basement to the 12-foot ceiling and partially submerged the first floor. Key medical equipment destroyed by the flood included radiology scanners, radiography and fluoroscopy systems, ultrasounds, cardiac-catherization labs, biopsy tables and biochemical analyzers.