UPDATE: Nine at dental practice charged in fraud probe
Prosecutors have charged the owner of an Anderson dental practice and eight of her employees in connection with a Medicaid fraud investigation.
Medicaid
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Where do hospital profits go?
When patients at Indianapolis-area hospitals pay their bills, they're not just funding their own health care. They're contributing to the care of Hoosiers in the rest of the state, too, especially care provided by hospital-employed physicians.
Medic! Early signal shows hospital profits plunged in 2013
Franciscan Alliance, always the first to report its year-end financial results, put out numbers that show a real decline in profit from operations of 58 percent.
WellPoint shares top $100 on bullish 5-year forecast
The health insurer predicted growth in government-funded health insurance programs would push revenue above $100 billion by 2018. That prompted investors to push WellPoint stock above $100 per share—an all-time high for the company.
In one chart: Obamacare exchange has failed to expand coverage in Indiana
For 2014, at least, Obamacare's dreams of expanding individual insurance coverage in Indiana have simply failed. There's no getting around it.
Lawmakers getting closer on nursing home moratorium
House Public Health Chairman Ed Clere said Tuesday that negotiators had found a compromise that would ban new construction for two years except in counties whose nursing homes are at 90-percent capacity or higher.
What happens if Pence, Sebelius can’t make a deal?
Even if Gov. Mike Pence and Obama’s health secretary can’t come to terms this weekend, there are ideas bouncing around the state legislature that suggest other ways Indiana could expand coverage to low-income Hoosiers.
Indianapolis businessman indicted for health care fraud
Ronald Reed, the owner of Benchmark Mobility Corp., allegedly billed the Medicaid and Medicare programs for used wheelchairs, scooters and lift chairs as if they were brand new, obtaining nearly $443,000 in fraudulent sales.
Hopelessly divided Congress agrees on one thing: Cutting payments to providers
Congress’ recent willingness to play hardball with providers is driving providers to cautiously embrace concepts—like pay-for-performance and keeping patients out of the hospitals—they have long resisted.
Looks like both sides are wrong about Medicaid
New research shows that expanding Medicaid won’t save money, in spite of the claims of Obamacare supporters, but it will provide modest help to patients’ health and pocketbooks, in spite of conservative critics’ contention to the contrary.
Crux of Medicaid showdown is how to fight poverty
When Gov. Mike Pence tries next month to negotiate a Medicaid expansion deal in a meeting with the Obama administration, it will be a clash of the conservative and liberal approaches to fighting poverty.
No one likes Obamacare
Obamacare has officially arrived, but both conservatives and liberals are calling it awful. That means the real debate over health reform is just beginning.
Analyst: WellPoint will lose money on Obamacare in 2014
Small business dumping, the uncertainty of Obamacare's exchanges, and the certainty of Obamacare's taxes will take a bite out of WellPoint's earnings next year. But company executives remain bullish on Obamacare's long-term impact.
Sorry, docs, but Obamacare will suffer from a shortage
There is good evidence that new technology deployed via new methods of medicine across the entire health care system can reduce the need for physicians. But there are too many barriers for such changes to occur in time to cut off the surge in demand brought on by Obamacare.
Obama team willing to ‘Republicanize’ Medicaid, but maybe not enough for Indiana
A new Medicaid expansion deal with the Republican governor of Iowa OK’d a cost-sharing requirement similar to what Indiana Gov. Mike Pence wants. But the Obama administration says it won’t extend that deal as low as Pence would like to go.
Hospitals figure out their own way to game Obamacare’s tax subsidies
In response to insurers’ “zero-premium” strategy, hospitals figure out their own way to game the tax subsidies available in the new Obamacare exchanges: pay premiums for their patients.
Pence’s Obamacare stance mirrors Hoosiers’ views
A new survey shows Hoosiers don’t like the Affordable Care Act, most would like to see it repealed, and by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, they support Pence’s handling of the question of expanding Medicaid.
Pence asks to meet with Sebelius over HIP expansion
Pence wants to expand Medicaid coverage using some form of the Healthy Indiana Plan, which currently provides insurance to about 40,000 Hoosiers who agree to make monthly contributions to health savings accounts. The Obama administration has questioned that feature of the program.
With Obamacare, insurers will still find ways to avoid risk
Obamacare put an end to health insurers’ worst methods for avoiding risk. But that doesn’t mean insurers have ended their risk-shifting ways. Not at all.
The bill for Hoosiers’ excess health care spending: About $5 billion per year
Hoosiers’ poor health, combined with an aggressive health care system and an uncompetitive health insurance sector, means Hoosiers, in spite of the fact that they earn just 86 cents for every dollar earned by the average American, are spending nearly $1.13 on health care for every dollar spent by Americans.