Debate rages over whether Lilly’s Byetta lifts cancer risk
A German researcher disputed the validity of a study that found Byetta and another diabetes drug increase cancer risk.
Health Care & Insurance
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IU Cancer Center recruits top researcher
Dr. Murray Korc, an internationally known pancreatic cancer researcher, comes to the cancer center as the first Myles Brand Professor of Cancer Research. The position is funded through a Lilly Endowment grant.
Survey: Workers’ health care costs rose in high single digits
Benefit consultant Nyhart says the typical Hoosier is paying $105 per month for single coverage and $417 per month for family coverage.
Health regulatory leaders ready to flock to city
The top event for regulatory professionals in the health care industry is headed to Indianapolis next month. The annual conference of the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society, or RAPS, is expected to draw thousands of members representing 120 companies and organizations.
Lilly invests $30M in chronic-disease partnerships
Drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co. said Tuesday it will spend $30 million over five years to fight chronic illnesses like heart disease, diabetes, cancer and respiratory disease in developing countries.
FDA gets new report on Lilly diabetes drug
Drugmakers Eli Lilly and Co. and Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Monday that patients taking their potential once-weekly diabetes treatment, Bydureon, saw a significant improvement in cardiovascular risk factors.
IBM putting Watson to work in health insurance
IBM’s supercomputer system, best known for trouncing the world’s best “Jeopardy!” players on TV, is being tapped by one of the nation’s largest health insurers to help diagnose medical problems and authorize treatments.
Anderson’s GM culture, poor health blamed for high medical costs
Residents of the Anderson area—when they paid with health insurance provided by an employer—spent 76 percent more on health care in 2009 than the average American with employer health insurance, highest among all metropolitan areas in the nation.
Medical manufacturer plans Fishers expansion
Tridien Medical, a Coral Springs, Fla.-based manufacturer of therapeutic support surfaces, plans to expand its plant in Fishers, adding up to 40 new jobs by 2013, including 25 in the next year.
Will ACOs really get off the ground?
The hype over accountable care organizations—something every major hospital in Indianapolis is moving to become—is increasingly being laced with skepticism as the economics behind the idea get more scrutiny.
Show-me state stings SynCare
Indianapolis-based SynCare LLC has been touting its growth in Missouri since it entered the market in 2009. But now SynCare’s excursions in the show-me state have turned into a nightmare.
Brokers ‘devastated’ by reform rule
The decision last year by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services not to exclude health insurance brokers commissions from a provision in the 2010 health reform law has been “devastating to brokers,” broker advocate Janet Trautwein said during an August speech in Fishers, and there are signs that Congress will act to reverse the policy.
Gloomy outlook for medical device makers
The next four years could be rough for makers of medical devices and orthopedic implants, including Bloomington-based Cook Medical Inc. and Warsaw-based Zimmer Holding Inc. and Biomet Inc.—and not because of the 2010 health reform law.
Roche hopes to prosper from austerity
Executives at Roche Diagnostics expect the wave of austerity measures being taken by western governments—including the United States—to as much as double its sales of fluid- and DNA-based tests in the next three years.
Study spoils common wisdom on health spending
The Thomson Reuters study that showed Anderson as the highest-spending health care market in the nation also concluded that treatment and spending vary widely from one locale to another with no clear reason based on demographics or health outcomes.
FDA deal with drugmakers raises user fees 6 percent
Drugmakers including Eli Lilly an Co. have agreed with regulators on a 6-percent increase in review fees as part of reauthorizing the drug-approval process through fiscal 2017.
Indiana company quits Missouri Medicaid contract
Indianapolis-based SynCare has ended its contract to screen Missouri Medicaid recipients after numerous complaints about its job performance.
Private firm with Medicaid deal gets state help
Officials with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services say they had to hire 13 temporary workers and shift as many as 20 state workers from their regular jobs after withering consumer complaints against SynCare LLC of Indiana.
Missouri health care advocates decry Indiana contractor
Indianapolis-based SynCare LLC, hired to determine the eligibility of Missouri Medicaid patients for in-home care, has "been a complete disaster from the beginning," statewide health care advocates charge.