Does Abu Dhabi hospital serve Mayo’s mission, or its bottom line?
Observers say move into wealthy emirate at odds with Clinic's humanitarian charge, invites ethical challenges More
Where the Frauds Are All Legal
Much of what we accept as legal in medical billing would be regarded as fraud in any other sector. I have been circling around this conclusion for this past five years, as I’ve listened to patients’ stories while covering health care as a journalist and author. Now, after a summer of firsthand experience — my husband was in a bike crash in July — it’s time to call out this fact head-on. Many of the Democratic candidates are talking about practical fixes for our high-priced health care system, and some legislated or regulated solutions to the maddening world of medical billing would be welcome.
Federally Funded Health Researchers Disclose at Least $188 Million in Conflicts of Interest. Can You Trust Their Findings?
A National Institutes of Health database, which we’re making public for the first time, shows that researchers have reported more than 8,000 “significant” financial conflicts, potentially influencing their work. More
FDA Approving Drugs at Breakneck Speed, Raising Alarm
The U.S. is approving new drugs so fast that companies are now preparing for a green light months in advance of the scheduled decision date, a pace that’s helping patients with rare or untreatable diseases but raising alarm among consumer advocates. More
Is single-payer a “job killer”? And does it matter?
Some policymakers argue that moving to single payer health care will "kill jobs." But is that a reason to stick with the status quo?
More
FDA bowed to industry for decades as alarms were sounded over talc
Since at least the 1970s, the regulatory agency downplayed health concerns about talc in powders and cosmetics, deferring again and again to manufacturers. Only now, as pressure mounts from lawsuits and a Reuters investigation, is the agency stepping up testing. More
‘Predatory’ Advertising by IVF Clinics
Not all in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics in the United States follow online advertising guidelines, investigators warn. More
I was a drug rep. I know how pharma companies pushed opioids.
Wining and dining aside, it’s all about building trust with doctors More
Public Commenting Has Been Hijacked by Biopharma
Often when a new drug or medical process is being considered for a government program, a "public comment" period is opened to get input on the potential impact. But is this input really from the public, or has this process been hijacked by the pharmaceutical industry for its own gain? More
Another conflicted all-expenses-paid junket offer by the National Press Foundation
Two months from now we will be in mid-winter, late January. How about four days in warm, sunny West Palm Beach, Florida? All-expenses-paid. How inviting. But how troubling. Once again. An email was sent to journalists this week announcing this junket funded by Bayer, a multinational drug company. More
Another conflicted all-expenses-paid junket offer by the National Press Foundation
An email was sent to journalists this week announcing this junket funded by Bayer, a multinational drug company. Bayer markets a number of cardiovascular drugs – and cardiovascular disease is the topic of this Florida fellowship. More
No Safety Switch: How Lax Oversight Of Electronic Health Records Puts Patients At Risk
Special interests and congressional inaction doomed efforts to regulate electronic medical records, putting patients at risk. More
With Medical Bills Skyrocketing, More Hospitals Are Suing for Payment
As deductibles and co-pays grow, insured patients owe a larger share of their medical bills. More and more are being taken to court. More
CDC “disclaimers” hide financial conflicts of interest
Despite the claim that "CDC does not accept commercial support," this agency does indeed have financial ties to industry organizations. A petition from watchdog groups is demanding transparency. More
The emergence of laboratory benefits managers: PBM déjà vu?
Laboratory benefits managers have emerged to help insurers and others manage the expanding worl of diagnostic testing. Oversight is needed. More
From assisted hatching to embryo glue, most IVF ‘add-ons’ rest on shaky science, studies find
In the 40 years since the world’s first “test tube baby,” fertility clinics have cooked up nearly three dozen such “add-ons,” or supplementary procedures. Like immune therapy for supposed genetic incompatibility, they’re not essential to IVF. Instead, clinics offer procedures such as “assisted hatching” and “embryo glue” and “uterine artery vasodilation” as purportedly science-based options that increase the chance of having a baby. Except there is little to no evidence that the vast majority of IVF add-ons do any such thing, conclude four papers published on Tuesday in Fertility and Sterility, the journal of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. More
Financial Hardships Of Medicare Beneficiaries With Serious Illness
In a national survey, seriously ill Medicare beneficiaries described financial hardships resulting from their illness—despite high beneficiary satisfaction with Medicare overall and the fact that many have supplemental insurance. About half reported a serious problem paying medical bills, with prescription drugs proving most onerous. More
How One Employer Stuck a New Mom With a $898,984 Bill for Her Premature Baby
Dignity Health said its employee, an ER nurse, failed to meet the deadline to add her premature newborn to its health plan, so she was responsible for the medical bills. It rejected her appeals for a year until ProPublica called. More
More doctors than ever are pharma-made millionaires
Is sunshine really the best disinfectant? Or do we need much more than transparency when it comes to financial conflicts of interest? More
The ‘cancer growing in cancer medicine’: pharma money paid to doctors
Americans are rightly furious about the high and unsustainable price of cancer drugs, which now routinely cost more than $100,000 per year of therapy. Those prices are made worse by the fact that most cancer drugs offer only modest benefits — one study put the median benefit at 2.1 extra months of life — along with the fact that expert physicians frequently recommend these drugs for off-label uses, meaning using a drug for a purpose it was not initially approved for. More