Pence signs bill expanding use of overdose drug
The new law allows Indiana residents to obtain and use a drug that can reverse heroin overdoses in their relatives, friends and loved ones.
Health Care & Insurance
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Lawsuit: IU Health, HealthNet defrauded feds, endangered patients
The lawsuit charges that IU Health and HealthNet Inc. put low-income pregnant women and their newborn babies at risk in a fraud scheme that bilked taxpayers out of millions of dollars.
Paying for low value
A recent ranking of health care value in all 50 states puts Indiana in the basement. By my rough figures, working-age Hoosiers are paying a couple billions dollars extra for their health care.
IU Health to locate new Bloomington hospital near IU campus
Indiana University Health plans to construct a new hospital in Bloomington four or five years from now, the Indianapolis-based hospital system announced Wednesday, after striking a deal with Indiana University to build on the school’s golf driving range.
Finally, Congress OKs bill reshaping Medicare doctors’ fees
The Senate gave final congressional approval late Tuesday to the $214 billion bipartisan measure, which rewrites how Medicare pays doctors for treating over 50 million elderly people.
U.S. prescription drug spending jumps 13 percent
U.S. spending on prescription drugs soared last year, driven up primarily by costly breakthrough medicines, manufacturer price hikes and a surge from millions of people newly insured due to the Affordable Care Act.
Hospitals hiring scribes to tame electronic medical records
A growing number of hospitals locally and nationally hiring scribes to help doctors fill out electronic medical records, which were billed as a time-saver over paper charts.
AIT, former execs rack up nearly $5M in legal costs
AIT Labs and its former executives have already incurred nearly $5 million defending themselves against charges by the U.S. Department of Labor that AIT founder Michael Evans sold the company to its employees in 2009 at an inflated price.
IndyCar forcing manufacturers to strengthen body components
The enhancements, announced Thursday, are intended to minimize the amount of damage involved in car-to-car contact and reduce the amount of debris littering the track — or hurdling over catch fences and into spectator areas.
Anthem’s offer that hospitals can’t refuse
By subtly threatening the loss of patients via a new “reference lab network,” the Indianapolis-based health insurer has persuaded 63 Indiana hospitals to slash their prices for blood and tissue testing by as much as 80 percent—beyond the discounts Anthem had already negotiated with them.
Senate OKs e-liquids bill, sends it to House for changes
The Senate passed a bill on Tuesday that places new security requirements on e-liquid producers and bans retailers from selling them to minors.
Garth Brooks dedicates child play zone at Indiana hospital
The 4,200-square-foot space, which includes billiards, foosball, a video game wall, an arts and crafts area and even a recording studio, is the nation's 11th and largest hospital Child Life Zone.
Delays in care by consumers continue to cloud hospitals’ finances
Hospitals and doctors still aren’t seeing a wave of new patients because rising deductibles in patients' health plans are continuing to delay medical procedures, even though their job prospects are better than they’ve been in years.
Indiana insurance marketplace failing smokers
The American Lung Association says Indiana's health insurance marketplace is failing to provide all the coverage it should to help people quit smoking under President Barack Obama's health care law.
Are nurses really overworked and underpaid?
Nurses in Indiana are underpaid, relative to their peers nationally. They are not overworked from a sheer number of hours, but the demands of hospitals nurses have spiked recently, reducing nurses’ margin for caring for patients with a human touch. For a business that competes on service and, increasingly, on price, those are big problems.
Health insurance brokers turn focus to individuals
Sparking the movement is anticipation of employers’ dropping their group health plans, thereby forcing workers onto Obamacare exchanges in search of coverage.
Doctors, nurses flock to Indiana Healthy Indiana Plan
The number of health care providers contracted with the Medicaid managed care plans and Healthy Indiana Patients surged 17 percent in just seven weeks after the federal government approved Gov. Mike Pence’s expansion of the Healthy Indiana Plan on Jan. 27.
Loss of special perks chops Anthem CEO’s compensation to $13.5M
The Indianapolis-based health insurer raised pay for its executives, including CEO Joe Swedish, at a much slower pace than the 38-percent return it generated for shareholders last year.
IU Health fires nurse who was part of union organizing
The fired nurse, Lacie Little, was one of two nurses quoted in an IBJ story that broke the news of the attempt to organize a nurse union at IU Health’s downtown hospitals. The union working with the IU Health nurses has filed an unfair labor practices charge.
Indiana lawmakers back 3-year ban on building nursing homes
The state Senate voted 36-12 Tuesday to give final approval to the bill, sending it to Gov. Mike Pence.