My ladyfriend and I took advantage of some lovely late summer weather last weekend and headed down to Indiana’s former state capital — Corydon. We stayed at the Kintner House, a well-known bed and breakfast. We felt like royalty in the William Henry Harrison room, which serves as an homage to our former President (although his stint at the helm was brief).

While in Harrison County, we toured the first capitol building and an early Governor’s mansion (I even bought an artistic rendering of the scene from a local consignment shop for my new home).

In the afternoon, we took a cave tour at Squire Boone Caverns — an Indiana Chamber member. The tour was quite enlightening as we meandered through stalactites and stalagmites nearly nine stories below the ground. Seeing rock formations formed over millions of years is quite humbling — a feeling most of us don’t experience nearly enough (if my hours of watching reality television — or watching Kanye West do anything — are any indication). We also sported a serious glute burn on the 60-foot climb up a spiral stair case back to the surface.

All told, if you’re on a budget and looking to get away on a one-tank trip – to borrow vernacular from Bob Gregory – I highly recommend the Corydon area, especially as fall approaches. Visit Indiana’s blog has a more detailed post highlighting the history and allure of our former capital, as well.

Safety – it’s a part of everyday life. There are those common sense words from parents like putting on your seatbelt or looking both ways before crossing the street.

It seems providing a safe workplace for employees would fall in the same category. Ah, if only it were as simple as mom yelling from the front seat, “Are you buckled in yet?”

First, consider the increased complexity of workplace safety (you know … protecting workers who operate machinery that costs more than a house, addressing ergonomic issues and a host of other considerations). Add in that pesky economic downturn we experienced and things get a little more complicated on the workplace safety front.

Read in the September/October BizVoice what some Indiana safety experts say about how the economy impacted their field and what companies should be doing in tough times (hint: it’s not cutting corners).

Also, read about some Indiana companies that understand the value of safety in all economic situations. A 2009 Governor’s Workplace Safety Award winner offered this:

Like many companies, Frankfort-based DSM NeoResins+ is looking at ways to reduce costs. But those cuts will not interfere with the company’s No. 1 priority, notes Kevin Goodnight, the U.S. safety, health and environmental manager.

“Our approach is safety is always the first priority,” he asserts. “So whenever we talk about any sort of savings or programs we have in place for getting through the harsh economic times, we always talk about safety first. We will not skimp on safety.”

We want to know your thoughts. How have you adapted, if at all, your safety practices and priorities?

Also, BizVoice magazine editor Tom Schuman recently sat down with Safety Resources President Robert Baldwin via Inside INdiana Business. The message is a key one to consider for many Indiana businesses who might be considering cutting safety training. See the video below.

Note: Those interested in this issue might also find our Safety & Health Guide for Indiana Business to be a useful tool.

While the majority of the attention is on health care reform, climate change and the like, other "routine" business continues to take place in Washington. On the agenda this week, as early as later today, is consideration on the Senate floor of a $122 million, fiscal year 2010 Transportation/Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill.

Don’t confuse this with the legislation authorizing highway funding that expires on September 30. The consensus there is that an extension, as long as 18 months, will be enacted so that little challenge can be put off until 2011.

On the transportation bill, there have been more than 50 amendments filed. Most come from Arizona’s John McCain; you remember him from that 2008 presidential election thing. Among the items McCain wants to remove from the bill:

• $195,000 for renovation of the Emmett Till Memorial Complex in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi
• $500,000 to construct a beach park promenade in Pascagoula, Mississippi
• $500,000 requested by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to provide a credit counseling service in Las Vegas

I’ll vote with McCain on this one. But then this whole earmark argument has been heard before — and it still seems to be business as usual.

Another worthy amendment would prevent lawmakers from congratulating themselves by using stimulus funds to purchase signage for such projects in their communities. The only stimulus that would provide is to the legislator’s re-election efforts. 

A new study by Indianapolis-based BioCrossroads puts some figures to what many people in northern Indiana already knew — that Warsaw’s niche as a global orthopedics hub is no joke. Inside INdiana Business has the press release:

Now generating more than $11 billion in annual revenues, the global orthopedics sector concentrated in Warsaw, Indiana, represents more than half the U. S. market share and more than one- third of the world’s market for developing orthopedic medical devices.

How does an industry — contained within a community — continue to maintain its strong economic presence and position itself for future growth? BioCrossroads, Indiana’s organization for investment, development and advancement of the state’s signature life sciences strengths, explores and outlines a series of action-oriented responses to this question in a new published report, Warsaw, Indiana: The Orthopedics Capital of the World — An overview, analysis and blueprint for future industry and community growth…

“The Warsaw orthopedics community is one of the most robust and concentrated medical equipment development sectors in the world, and a world-class economic asset that powers growth for all of Indiana,” said David Johnson, President and CEO of BioCrossroads. “The integration of all this research has resulted in a picture of an industry cluster in Warsaw, that is currently robust, respected and globally competitive. While this orthopedics device sector has been tremendously successful to date, our research and the truly global scale of this sector’s reach make it very clear that global pressures now confronting our whole economy, including all our life sciences sectors, have sparked a broadly perceived need for a community and industry engagement strategy focused on education, talent recruitment and retention, workforce and community development to ensure sustainability.

“We’re now in the process of developing a Warsaw-based, regionally focused organizational initiative that can better define and prioritize the challenges and opportunities, and then seek funding to bring the best and most responsive ideas to life,” Johnson added.

Personally, I’m working on an article for the November/December edition of BizVoice about business aviation, which will touch on how Warsaw’s airport has made the community’s climb to the top of the orthopedic world possible. Image Air Charter, an Indiana Chamber member, has had a great deal of success chartering flights for folks in that sector, showing how different companies can truly complement each other to enhance a community.

In a primetime address to a joint session of Congress, President Obama upped the stakes on health care reform – indeed, he may have staked the success or failure of his presidency on this issue and the debate has enormous consequences for the 2010 mid-term elections. Obama’s speech was combative; he both invited input from minority Republicans and challenged their opposition to present proposals. He also chose to attack the veracity of claims and arguments against his policies, asserting that "we will call you out" on false claims. In the wake of the president’s speech – which was interrupted by catcalls and one congressman calling the president a "liar" – the partisan environment on Capitol Hill could not be more toxic. The fundamentals of the bill and the policy debate have not really changed, however. Numerous provisions include mandates on employers to provide coverage or pay penalties, mandates on insurance companies to provide coverage and mandates on individuals to purchase coverage or pay penalties. A government-run "public option" remains a key sticking point, with Republicans adamantly opposed and Democrats deeply divided over the issue. 

The Congressional Budget Office analyses of the various drafts of legislation have been less than comforting, citing increased (rather than decreased) costs for the federal government (i.e., taxpayers) over the next decade with an acceleration of costs in future decades. This will exacerbate the federal deficit and is at odds with the president’s stated goal to "not add one dime" to the deficit.

The Indiana Chamber is engaged in the debate and conferring with its membership as the situation develops. The Chamber will also be taking a delegation of the state’s business leaders to Washington for its annual D.C. Fly-in event on September 23-24, at which time direct communication on this issue will be made to Indiana’s congressional delegation. The Chamber maintains that incremental, yet fundamental, changes in the areas of medical liability reform, health information technology and more consumer-driven health options are necessary first steps to controlling the costs of health care and extending private health care insurance to more Americans. 

(Guest blogger Daniel F. Evans is president and CEO of Clarian Health. He shared insights on incentives last week and will soon be offering an additional posting.)

I’d like to use this blog entry to comment on two events related to health care reform that took place Wednesday, though they differed dramatically in scale and attention received.  First, President Obama spoke to a joint session of Congress and the American people about health care.  As is usually the case, the president’s oratory was powerful and compelling.  He presented a strong case for reform. 

But his speech was disappointingly short on specifics on the question that I believe matters most – namely, how we change the incentives in our health care delivery system to support higher quality, more efficient and coordinated patient care delivered by trained medical professionals. The speech provided a lot of detail regarding how to expand insurance coverage to those who don’t have it and to protect those who currently have insurance from losing it when they need it most.  But it was very vague about how to pay for these reforms, and it was largely silent on changing the model of how health care is provided.  Nor did it contain any reference to the responsibility we all must take on for our own health and health care choices. In that sense, I believe it was a lost opportunity to advance a critical element of real and lasting health care reform.

Earlier in the day, the Indiana Health Industry Forum sponsored a thoughtful and expansive discussion of health care reform here in Indianapolis. Participants had the chance to hear from a number of experts on key elements of the various reform proposals under consideration in Washington. The panelists were informative and interesting, and reminded us of just how complex and challenging reform is going to be. 

Can we have lower costs but still support medical innovation? Do we have enough health care workers to provide care for the patients who will enter the health care system as insurance coverage is expanded? Can a system really designed to treat episodes of acute care adjust to provide a continuum of care for the chronically ill? 

All are fascinating and important questions without easy answers. Panelists also reminded us that reform will be an ongoing issue and will not be “finished” even if major legislation passes this year. To give just one example, the Medicare program has unfunded liabilities of more than $30 trillion. This is obviously not sustainable, so additional changes to the program will be necessary over time to keep it from swallowing our entire economy. Health care “reform” will be with us for many years to come, as our society continues to grapple with the challenge of paying for the care we want and need.

A survey from Clarus Research Group, a non-partisan organization based in D.C., indicates that despite the notion our country is one big contentious soda can ready to explode with the fury of 1,000 suns (or do I just watch too much cable news?), an overwhelming majority of Americans are actually happy with their jobs. However, it seems older workers are far happier than their younger counterparts, and access to health care obviously plays a role, too. Read on:

The survey, conducted by Clarus Research Group, found only 6 percent of workers unhappy with their current employment. Another 6 percent said they were neither happy nor unhappy.

“In these tough times of high unemployment and uncertainty, many workers are happy that they have jobs,” said Ron Faucheux, president of Clarus Research Group. “However, despite the nationwide results, there were important differences among population groups, especially based on age, race, education and region.”

Age is a major factor, with the youngest and oldest workers a wide 27 points apart. Only 69 percent of workers under the age of 30 are satisfied with their jobs, compared to 96 percent of those 60 and older.

Workers with medical insurance were happier—90 percent, than those without it—75 percent.

Respondents who said they were happy with their jobs by group:

• Race: 90 percent of whites and Hispanics; 77 percent of African Americans
• Education: 92 percent of workers with college degrees; 83 percent without
• Region: The highest was the West (95 percent), and the lowest was the South (83 percent); in the middle was the Northeast (88 percent), and the Midwest (92 percent)
• Party: Republicans, at 92 percent, were happier than Democrats, at 80 percent. Self-described independent voters were almost as happy as Republicans at 91 percent.

“It is interesting to note that there was only a one-point difference between women and men,” said Faucheux, “and no difference between union and non-union workers.”

The survey was conducted by live telephone interviewers August 14-18, 2009, using a nationwide scientifically selected sample of 560 registered voters who said they were employed full-time or parttime. The margin or error was +/- 4.1%.