Articles

WellPoint dragged into Goldman Sachs suit

WellPoint Inc.’s $4.9 billion offer for Virginia-based Amerigroup Inc. apparently wasn’t the only—or even the most lucrative—offer for the Medicaid managed care company. But it was the deal surest to come to fruition before a key deadline for a big payout for Goldman Sachs & Co., according to a shareholder lawsuit filed Aug. 16 against the Amerigroup board of directors.

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Suburban hospitals charm patients

A little extra Medicare money will flow to suburban hospitals in the Indianapolis area, based on recent patient satisfaction scores. But hospitals in the core of Indianapolis—and hospitals that do significant amounts of teaching medical students—may take a hit.

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Local providers join Medicare ACO program

Indiana University Health, as well as a partnership of Franciscan Alliance and American Health Network, have formed accountable care organizations that won the blessing of the federal Medicare Shared Savings program.

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Study: Indy hospitals charge ‘excess’ prices

The Big 3 automakers spent 35 percent more in the Indianapolis area to provide health care for workers and non-elderly retirees than they did in other auto-heavy cities—and two-thirds of that difference can be blamed on “excess prices” by Indianapolis hospitals.

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UnitedHealth to acquire Medicare insurer XLHealth

UnitedHealth Group Inc. said it will acquire XLHealth Corp., a provider of managed care for chronically ill Medicare members. Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. had been considering a possible acquisition of the company.

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Q&A

As an Eli Lilly and Co. lobbyist in Washington, D.C., Jay Bonitt is hoping the Congressional “super committee” charged with trimming the federal budget doesn’t turn to the Medicare prescription drug program, known as Part D, to do so. Bonitt, Lilly's vice president of federal affairs, said the program is under budget and helps spur drugmakers to further innovation.

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Deficit committee could bite CNO

Medicare supplement policies are reportedly one of the targets of Congress’ special deficit-reduction committee—and that’s not good news for Carmel-based CNO Financial Group Inc.

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Medical supplier Hill-Rom makes $42M fraud settlement

Hill-Rom Holdings Inc., a medical-equipment company based in Indiana, agreed Tuesday to pay nearly $42 million to settle a government lawsuit. The government had accused the company of knowingly submitting false claims to Medicare from 1999 to 2007.

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