Insight On Business the News Hour

A year ago, following several delays, Gov. Terry Branstad (R-IA) fostered upon the Medicaid health care system three for-profit managed care providers tasked with handling the care and payment of services for roughly 600,000 patients. The vast majority of these patients are children, the elderly and low income residents of the state. For months we have heard from Governor Branstad that the system is working. People are getting care and providers are being paid. Yet, we hear an entirely different story from providers and patients. This week we learned that an additional $225 million would be sent to Iowa from the Affordable Care Act coffers to pay for services. The very act Gov. Branstad did not support. Enter Katie Fergus, CPA who has years of experience in the finances of care providers and recently started her firm FinanSynergy which assists providers in everything from billing to cost containment. So, what is it really like for patients and health care providers in Iowa?  We asked...

Insight on Business the News Hour with Michael Libbie is the only weekday, hour-long business broadcast in the Midwest. The national, regional and local business news along with long-form business interviews can be heard Monday - Friday starting at 5:05pm on AM-940. The Business News Hour is a production of Insight Advertising, Marketing & Communications through a business relationship with The Des Moines Radio Group. You can follow us on Twitter @IoB_NewsHour. 

We hear from employers all the time about how so many college graduates may have the necessary technical skills to do a specific job but tend to lack the interpersonal or "soft skills" so important to career success. The University of Iowa has been listening. Today, on our News Maker Line, we visit with Amanda McFadden the Director of Academic Programs and International Services for the Pomerantz Career Center for Leadership and Career Achievement about the university programs that help prepare students to become "job ready". It seems our friends in Iowa City have been listening to business... 

Insight on Business the News Hour with Michael Libbie is the only weekday, hour-long business broadcast in the Midwest. The national, regional and local business news along with long-form business interviews can be heard Monday - Friday starting at 5:05pm on AM-940. The Business News Hour is a production of Insight Advertising, Marketing & Communications through a business relationship with The Des Moines Radio Group. You can follow us on Twitter @IoB_NewsHour. 

Every business measures the effectiveness of their spending. They want to know what the return on investment might be for a host of things from marketing to...yes, training. Here we visit with Ro Crosbie the president and founder of Tero International about just that topic. We'll talk about how they measure, what they measure and how the take that information back to their client. You will enjoy! 

Insight on Business the News Hour with Michael Libbie is the only weekday, hour-long business broadcast in the Midwest. The national, regional and local business news along with long-form business interviews can be heard Monday - Friday starting at 5:05pm on AM-940. The Business News Hour is a production of Insight Advertising, Marketing & Communications through a business relationship with The Des Moines Radio Group. You can follow us on Twitter @IoB_NewsHour. 

Our regular contributor Ned Flynn from Aureon joins us with some thoughts about business and employees. More to the point are some stunning numbers that just may dash your preconseived notions about younger workers and what they really want. We talk about recruitment and retention and having the ability to better be aware of what your employees, or future employees, really want. Good stuff for any size business. 

Insight on Business the News Hour with Michael Libbie is the only weekday, hour-long business broadcast in the Midwest. The national, regional and local business news along with long-form business interviews can be heard Monday - Friday starting at 5:05pm on AM-940. The Business News Hour is a production of Insight Advertising, Marketing & Communications through a business relationship with The Des Moines Radio Group. You can follow us on Twitter @IoB_NewsHour. 

This is a great story of running after your dream job. Our Restaurant of the Week is One Eleven Public House on Main Street in Knoxville, Iowa. Yep, we love to travel a bit and it seems so too do you! Meet Mindi Sudman who, with her partner, worked for months to get the old building ready for business. Even though she doesn't yet have a sign out front that has not kept people from finding her and enjoying fine American food and craft cocktails. Learn the back-story about One Eleven Public House and then...go!

Insight on Business the News Hour with Michael Libbie is the only weekday, hour-long business broadcast in the Midwest. The national, regional and local business news along with long-form business interviews can be heard Monday - Friday starting at 5:05pm on AM-940. The Business News Hour is a production of Insight Advertising, Marketing & Communications through a business relationship with The Des Moines Radio Group. You can follow us on Twitter @IoB_NewsHour. 

Each week, at the end of our broadcast week, we bring in Jeff Pitts from Cityview of Des Moines to share with us "Stuff to DO in the Metro" and he's got quite a list. From the circus coming to town to trivia night to the Funny Bone loads of things to do this weekend into next week. Have some fun already...

Insight on Business the News Hour with Michael Libbie is the only weekday, hour-long business broadcast in the Midwest. The national, regional and local business news along with long-form business interviews can be heard Monday - Friday starting at 5:05pm on AM-940. The Business News Hour is a production of Insight Advertising, Marketing & Communications through a business relationship with The Des Moines Radio Group. You can follow us on Twitter @IoB_NewsHour. 

We're thrilled when a business calls us and wants to share their back-story. That's what happened early last month when we heard from Alisha Dolson from Block Advisers of the Des Moines Metro. Here she is joined by long-time tax agent Robert Sayler and we talk about what the, rather new, division of H&R Block does. Hey, it is tax time and more... 

Insight on Business the News Hour with Michael Libbie is the only weekday, hour-long business broadcast in the Midwest. The national, regional and local business news along with long-form business interviews can be heard Monday - Friday starting at 5:05pm on AM-940. The Business News Hour is a production of Insight Advertising, Marketing & Communications through a business relationship with The Des Moines Radio Group. You can follow us on Twitter @IoB_NewsHour. 

As legislators and school boards and teachers make decisions about education...who listens to the students? That is the question on the minds of the Iowa Student Learning Institute...bet you didn't know there was one. Here we talk with the ISLI president Justin Sindelar and member Taylor Larick about what they think should happen and about the upcoming Student Voice Rally scheduled for April 11. Good stuff here from two very mature and well spoken young people.  

Insight on Business the News Hour with Michael Libbie is the only weekday, hour-long business broadcast in the Midwest. The national, regional and local business news along with long-form business interviews can be heard Monday - Friday starting at 5:05pm on AM-940. The Business News Hour is a production of Insight Advertising, Marketing & Communications through a business relationship with The Des Moines Radio Group. You can follow us on Twitter @IoB_NewsHour.  

We've been doing the Business News Hour for a long time. Each weekday for nearly four years we've reported on the business news of the nation, region and the Greater Des Moines Metro. During that time we have watched the convergence of business and politics and that has changed the conversation. This interview is an example of that. Bill Stowe, the CEO of the Des Moines Water Works has been described as "The most hated man in Iowa" and as a "Moses standing up for the people against special interests". According to the Des Moines Water Works the Iowa Legislature, in a purely political move, is seeking to dismantle the Des Moines Water Works yet over 68% of the people served wish to preserve the business...and in the end it is a business. We talk about that, the drainage district lawsuit, polluted water, Flint, Michigan and more in this extended interview.

Insight on Business the News Hour with Michael Libbie is the only weekday, hour-long business broadcast in the Midwest. The national, regional and local business news along with long-form business interviews can be heard Monday - Friday starting at 5:05pm on AM-940. The Business News Hour is a production of Insight Advertising, Marketing & Communications through a business relationship with The Des Moines Radio Group. You can follow us on Twitter @IoB_NewsHour.  

We love to share the back-story about business and when Tom Knackstedt called, a year after we gave him our business card, we made sure to bring him into the studio. This is a story about plastics...you know the stuff we see every day. Where does it come from, what's new in the industry and who buys what? Tom owns Partners in Plastics and we start out with a thought from "The Graduate". Listen in...

Insight on Business the News Hour with Michael Libbie is the only weekday, hour-long business broadcast in the Midwest. The national, regional and local business news along with long-form business interviews can be heard Monday - Friday starting at 5:05pm on AM-940. The Business News Hour is a production of Insight Advertising, Marketing & Communications through a business relationship with The Des Moines Radio Group. You can follow us on Twitter @IoB_NewsHour.