Teen births fall in Indiana, nation
Teen births have fallen to a record low in the United States and dropped sharply in Indiana too, a development that could save taxpayers millions of dollars in public health services and other assistance.
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Cash crunch forces large home health agency into bankruptcy protection
Carmel-based Nightingale Home Healthcare Inc., which serves nearly 900 Hoosier patients, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and won court approval to borrow $350,000 from its parent company to make payroll.
Nursing homes work to ‘rebalance’ Medicaid spending without managed care
State government has long wanted to shift spending on long-term care from nursing homes to home- and community-based care. Now Gov. Mike Pence’s administration is working with nursing homes to make that happen.
All of a sudden, HIP 2.0 has a cloudy future
Gov. Mike Pence’s expanded version of the Healthy Indiana Plan looked secure after winning approval from the Obama administration in January. But now it faces threats from both liberals and conservatives.
Half of insurers on Indiana Obamacare market are losing money
UnitedHealthcare, MDwise, IU Health Plans and Assurant all disclosed losses during the first nine months of this year on the policies they are selling on the federal marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act.
Looks like business growth is slowing down at Indiana hospitals
Profits and patient visits remain strong at Community Health Network and Indiana University Health, but their Obamacare-fueled growth is decelerating.
Covering the uninsured brings only a small benefit for the insured
Hospitals have long argued that they pass on the cost of the uninsured to private insurance customers. But a new study shows that’s less than half-true.
IU Health aims to extend insurance service to 1M Hoosiers
The Indianapolis-based hospital system said its efforts to reduce patients’ need for expensive health care services, known as population health, slashed the use of hospitals, nursing homes and expensive imaging scans among the 140,000 Hoosiers IU Health now serves.
Spiking drug prices punch holes in health insurers’ finances
Spending on prescription drugs has soared 451 percent this year at Indianapolis-based MDwise as new drugs for hepatitis C and cancer soar above $100,000 per patient.
Obamacare pumping more than $2B into Hoosier health insurers
A flood of money from Obamacare—for the expanded Healthy Indiana Plan and for private health insurance purchased on the federal exchange—is boosting revenue and profit among Indiana health insurers.
Obamacare, HIP 2.0 goosing hospital profits—for now
More paying customers helped Community Health Network pull in $47 million in second-quarter profits, a story being repeated at not-for-profit hospitals around the country as Obamacare has boosted the number of insured customers to unprecedented highs.
UPDATE: Why insurance mega-mergers won’t launch wave of hospital hook-ups
Profits at most county-owned hospitals have grown by 100 percent to 400 percent over the past four years via partnerships with nursing homes that have brought in hundreds of millions of dollars in extra federal money.
After revenue rebounds, Hoosier hospitals start hiring again
Hospitals around Indiana have added 2,400 jobs since September as profits, patient visits and insurance coverage all improved.
Supreme Court’s Obamacare ruling is a win for Republicans—they just can’t see it
For at least 20 years, Republicans have been pushing for giving tax credits to help individuals buy health insurance. The Supreme Court’s latest Obamacare ruling does Republicans the favor of preserving them.
Buying Cigna would give 60 percent of Hoosier health insurance market to Anthem
If Anthem merged with Cigna Corp. it would create a behemoth with even greater negotiating power, which could benefit employers but hurt doctors and hospitals.
If Supremes gut Obamacare’s tax credits, the fixes are easy. But the politics are hard.
The Obama administration could write a new regulation. Congress could pass a short law. States could run a low-cost exchange. But the politics might require all parties to let the tax credits die while they try to pin the blame on the other side.
State readies $2M ad campaign to show off HIP replacement
The new version of the Healthy Indiana Plan, backed by Obamacare funding, has enrolled 229,000 new participants in four months without breaking stride.
Why Anthem could spend $34 billion to buy health insurer Humana
Wall Street analysts say a purchase of Louisville-based Humana Inc., which reportedly has put itself up for sale, would by Indianapolis-based Anthem. An Anthem-Humana marriage would be the biggest merger in the history of U.S. health insurance.
How Indy’s hospitals kept chugging through that terrible year of 2013
The individual hospital campuses around Indianapolis saw their collective revenue rise 8 percent and their collective operating profits rise 22 percent from from 2011 to 2013. That’s solid, just not stellar, growth.
Health insurers press gas on value-based payments
In Indiana, Anthem has struck accountable care organization deals with 14 health care provider groups and signed up nearly 2,900 primary care providers to its medical home program. And it’s pushing for more in the future.