Spiking drug prices punch holes in health insurers’ finances
Spending on prescription drugs has soared 451 percent this year at Indianapolis-based MDwise as new drugs for hepatitis C and cancer soar above $100,000 per patient.
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Hospital CEO: Telehealth could dampen future health care construction
Bryan Mills, CEO of the Community Health Network hospital system, said a recent pickup in health care construction could slow down if providers can successfully care for patients remotely via the Internet and phones.
The Anthem-Cigna Marriage: A Love Story in Three Acts
A 22-page timeline of events leading up to the $54 billion merger agreement between Anthem and Cigna shows that company executives fell in love early, but the Anthem board made them break up and they chased other lovers. But in the end, they were each other’s only choice.
Obamacare pumping more than $2B into Hoosier health insurers
A flood of money from Obamacare—for the expanded Healthy Indiana Plan and for private health insurance purchased on the federal exchange—is boosting revenue and profit among Indiana health insurers.
Community set to go whole hog on new value-based payments
CEO Bryan Mills has set a goal to make 75 percent of revenue—or $1.5 billion a year—be covered by value-based contracts—which means Community would be rewarded for keeping patients out of the hospital. A new venture is Mills’ strategy to get there.
Is Indiana’s lack of ‘narrow networks’ keeping Obamacare premiums high?
A recent study found the number of health insurers offering broad provider networks on the Obamacare exchange was higher than in all but 10 other states and suggests that so long as Hoosiers keep singing “Don’t Fence Me In,” they could keep paying more for health insurance.
UPDATE: Why insurance mega-mergers won’t launch wave of hospital hook-ups
Profits at most county-owned hospitals have grown by 100 percent to 400 percent over the past four years via partnerships with nursing homes that have brought in hundreds of millions of dollars in extra federal money.
Costs of data breaches, just this year, outstrip subsidies to digitize health care
With this year’s bill estimated at $37 billion and counting, perhaps the sheer cost of cleaning up after IT security breaches at health care organizations will spur the industry to find a bandage for its hemorrhaging computer systems.
Anthem’s Indiana profits soar as Hoosiers cut medical spending by $1 billion
Anthem turned out unheard of gains in 2014, the first year of Obamacare’s new health insurance overhaul, as Anthem’s customers numbers held steady but their spending with hospitals and doctors plummeted.
Lilly, Anthem show high risk, high reward strategy can pay off
The CEOs of Eli Lilly and Anthem are being rewarded by investors for taking high-risk approaches to develop breakthrough drugs, make major acquisitions.
After silence, IU Health and Anthem voice concerns over Chamber’s smoking scandal
With Anthem and IU Health so hot to trot their anti-smoking bona fides, it’s surprising their responses to The New York Times' stories about the U.S. Chamber of Commerce blocking anti-smoking policies overseas have been so tepid.
Obamacare shovels another $122M to Indiana insurers
The money, known as reinsurance payments, helped MDwise, Anthem, Humana, Assurant and the Physicians Health Plan of Northern Indiana keep a lid on their losses even as lots of new patients with expensive or untreated medical conditions migrated into the private insurance market.
Cigna: Anthem’s baggage makes marriage risky
Cigna said Anthem’s a risky bet due to fallout from its massive data breach, lawsuits that accuse it of conspiring to inflate prices, and lack of a growth strategy. But Wall Street thinks this deal is going to happen, unless Cigna can find another buyer.
Buying Cigna would give 60 percent of Hoosier health insurance market to Anthem
If Anthem merged with Cigna Corp. it would create a behemoth with even greater negotiating power, which could benefit employers but hurt doctors and hospitals.
State readies $2M ad campaign to show off HIP replacement
The new version of the Healthy Indiana Plan, backed by Obamacare funding, has enrolled 229,000 new participants in four months without breaking stride.
Why Anthem could spend $34 billion to buy health insurer Humana
Wall Street analysts say a purchase of Louisville-based Humana Inc., which reportedly has put itself up for sale, would by Indianapolis-based Anthem. An Anthem-Humana marriage would be the biggest merger in the history of U.S. health insurance.
Health insurers press gas on value-based payments
In Indiana, Anthem has struck accountable care organization deals with 14 health care provider groups and signed up nearly 2,900 primary care providers to its medical home program. And it’s pushing for more in the future.
Anthem’s brand suffers small ding from data breach
Anthem Inc.’s brand has taken a noticeable hit since a massive data breach earlier this year, but the impact was blunted by positive perceptions of the way the company handled the breach.
Radiologists follow FedEx with flat-rate prices. Is this the future of health care?
To satisfy patients with high-deductible health plans, Northwest Radiology has introduced flat-rate pricing for its imaging scans. It’s a centuries-old concept among postal services, but for health care, it’s revolutionary.
Did Congress just kick off another wave of doc mergers?
Things got quiet after a wave of hospital systems' acquiring physician practices swept through central Indiana from 2008 to 2011. But a new wave could start now that Congress passed the "doc fix" last week.