Articles

FDA says potential diabetes drug may cause cancer

Dapagliflozin would be the first in a new class of diabetes treatments called SGLT2-inhibitors that work by letting patients excrete excess blood sugar in their urine. Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. is among several companies pursuing similar drugs.

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CBO: No great savings from health reform

Don’t expect the health reform law to tame health care costs. That’s the conclusion of the director of the Congressional Budget Office, who also suggested some of the simplest ways to moderate costs would be to roll back some of its key provisions.

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Exchange could snag 1.1M Hoosiers

An estimated 1.1 million Hoosiers will obtain health insurance through a yet-to-be-created online exchange, according to the latest estimates from the task force guiding Indiana’s response to the 2010 health reform law.

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Study: Medicaid better than nothing

Health care reform will add roughly 500,000 Hoosiers to the Medicaid program and, in spite of great criticism of that expansion, a new study suggests Medicaid coverage does help consumers get more care, have fewer unpaid bills and feel better.

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Employers face messy decision to drop health insurance

Companies that drop insurance coverage could, without spending any more money than they are now, give workers an 11-percent raise or else help them save as much as $2,000 per year buying health coverage in one of the exchanges, IBJ calculations show.

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Lilly loses bid to end revived Zyprexa U.K. patent case

The High Court in London on Tuesday denied Lilly’s request for a judgment without trial against Neopharma Ltd., the closely held company that has European marketing rights for the generic version of the drug known chemically as olanzapine.

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IU Health loses CFO to larger hospital system

Marvin Pember, 58, is taking a new job near Philadelphia as the president of the acute care division of Universal Health Services Inc., a publicly traded company with 22 acute hospitals and numerous behavioral health centers spread from coast to coast.

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Quarterly lobbying bill adds up to $2.5M for Lilly

Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. raised its spending 8 percent from the $2.3 million that it spent in the first quarter of last year. The drugmaker also spent 70 percent more than the $1.5 million recorded in the final quarter of 2010, according to lobbying reports filed with the House of Representatives.

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Wellpoint

WellPoint spent $1.5M lobbying feds in first quarter

WellPoint Inc., the nation's largest health insurer based on membership, spent about $1.5 million lobbying the federal government in the first quarter, as the health care overhaul debuted a new restriction that concerned managed care companies.

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Q&A

Jim Alender has been CEO of Howard Regional Health System in Kokomo since 1997. He recently negotiated a letter of intent to merge the hospital with Indianapolis-based Indiana University Health. He spoke about the major factors that led to that decision, and the benefits he hopes to come from it. The deal, which still requires approval from Howard County officials, could close before the end of this year.

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How to sell Martinsville to MDs

Help with physician recruitment is a big factor pushing small-city hospitals into the arms of Indianapolis’ four major hospital systems. So how do the big boys entice doctors to the small towns?

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