Overbuilt, overstaffed, top heavy, hospitals ripe for cuts
Before this year’s cuts, Indiana hospitals had added 12,000 jobs over the past six years, even as private employers across Indiana, collectively, added no net new workers.
Life Science & Biotech
Articles
Technology on track to dramatically change health care
Cost pressures are forcing health care providers to extend the reach of limited resources.
Pence pleads for end to medical device tax
Republican Gov. Mike Pence wrote a letter Monday urging members of the U.S. Senate to vote to repeal the medical device tax that is helping to finance Obamacare. But the Senate on Monday night voted not to repeal the tax, with all 54 Democrats voting to keep it.
Want health reform? Change these 6 things all at once
Meaningful health reform has proved so difficult because it requires simultaneous change across a massive system. Here’s a post-Obamacare plan to do exactly that.
Auction lands $2.1 million for Elona Biotech assets
Elona went into receivership in June after Greenwood officials filed a foreclosure lawsuit against the firm. The company failed after receiving more than $8 million in economic development incentives from the city over the past three years.
Device prices plunge as hospitals pay less to fix hearts, hips
Prices paid in the United States for medical devices, including those made by Indiana-based manufacturers, have plunged as much as one-third since 2007 as hospitals clamped down on spending.
Hey IU, someone has to pay for those health care jobs
The IU researchers, as have many before them, approach health care jobs as if every one of them is an unmixed blessing to the Indiana economy. Employers and workers could have easily told them that’s not the case.
Top 10 blogs for the business of health care
I follow these blogs to keep up on health care financing. Tell me what else I should be reading.
Doctors, as well as patients, in the dark about prices
If you’re frustrated that health care prices are both unavailable and incomprehensible, you’re not alone. Your physician is in the dark too.
Hospitals aren’t bad guys; they’re just business guys
Even in the face of alarmingly high hospital prices, no one should conclude that hospitals are the bad guys in the health care system. Hospital executives are doing exactly what they’re supposed to be doing as the business leaders of their institutions.
After years of success, Harlan Laboratories caught in debt vise
The company may violate loan covenants in the next three to six months, and its ability to refinance a $280 million loan that matures in July 2014 is “highly questionable,” Moody’s says.
Ouch! Indy hospitals charging employers three times more than Medicare
A new study found that Indianapolis-area hospitals are charging patients insured by their employers 264 percent more for outpatient services than the federal Medicare program pays for the exact same services at the same hospitals.
Only now is Pence team starting Medicaid talks
Gov. Mike Pence’s go-slow approach could push an expansion of Medicaid eligibility in Indiana to the end of 2014. And he’s OK with that.
Greenwood biotech firm’s assets to hit auction block
The remnants of ill-fated Elona Biotechnologies Inc. will be auctioned on Sept. 27, presenting a rare turnkey opportunity for entrepreneurs interested in jumping into the life sciences industry.
Which Indy hospitals do it right the first time?
Medicare data show some county-owned hospitals around Indianapolis scored better than big-name hospitals like IU Health and Community.
Patients get what they pay for
Patients, in spite of what it may feel like, pay only a tiny fraction of the total health care bill directly from their own pockets. It’s no wonder then that prices and good service are hard to find.
Slower rise in health insurance costs is an illusion
The ‘modest’ 4 percent rise in health insurance premiums, when compared with wages, shows things are getting worse, not better, for health care consumers.
Swapping Obamacare for a single-payer system?
How would a single-payer national health insurance program change the finances for employers, workers, doctors and hospitals?
BioCrossroads drops dreams for hospital innovation
In this age of austerity, there’s almost no chance of Indianapolis hospitals creating a Cleveland Clinic-like hub of innovation.
A dose of light reading
Starting with this post, I’m going to periodically give you a peek at my reading list. I’ll highlight reports and reportage that I have found either helpful or provocative. I hope you do, too.