FDA’s proposed reform for medical devices lacks teeth
In a recent Washington Post op-ed, Shannon Brownlee and Jeanne Lenzer explain why the FDA's proposed changes are unlikely to make a real difference in medical device safety. More
Health Care Industry Spends $30B A Year Pushing Its Wares, From Drugs To Stem Cell Treatment
“Whenever pharma or a hospital spends money on advertising, we the patients pay for it — through higher prices for drugs and hospital services,” said Shannon Brownlee, senior vice president of the Lown Institute, a Brookline, Mass., nonprofit that advocates for affordable care. “Marketing is built into the cost of care.” More
The FDA is still letting doctors implant untested devices into our bodies
Ten years ago, Kathleen Yaremchuk raced to the bedside of a patient inexplicably gasping for breath. Chair of the department of otorhinolaryngology (ear, nose and throat) at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Yaremchuk performed an emergency tracheotomy on the woman, cutting a hole in her windpipe, inserting a breathing tube and saving her life. When Yaremchuk began getting more calls over the following months for mysterious cases of respiratory distress, she launched a study to figure out what was going on. More
A final HealthNewsReview.org report card from 3,200+ systematic reviews of health care news stories & PR releases
One of the things that I’m most proud of about my team’s work is that we didn’t merely grade performance. We offered constructive criticism intended to improve performance. More
Community benefit spending not well defined or reported, investigation shows
An analysis by Modern Healthcare finds that reported spending on community benefits by hospitals leave out important information, and vary widely between hospitals across the country. More
Treats or tricks? Scary pharma ads, part 2
Halloween is time for costumes, spooky stories, and... drug advertisements? More
One drug, 247 patents, $18 billion
A new report reveals how drugmaker Abbvie has abused the patent system to delay competition for its bestselling drug. More
Rankings revisited: What makes a hospital the “best”?
As the annual "best hospital" rankings have been released, we revisit our analysis of how hospitals get to be top-ranked. More
Do non-profit hospitals need another tax break?
Non-profit hospitals are finally being taxed on excessive CEO pay, but some are trying to find loopholes around the law. More
UPMC expansion won’t improve Pittsburgh’s community health
The Pittsburgh health system giant is putting profits over patients with their proposed expansion, say Shannon Brownlee and Vikas Saini. More
New report sheds light on hospital price variation
Ever wonder why you can't get a straight answer about how much a test or procedure in the hospital? This new report has answers. More
Belief and evidence: How framing health news matters
Gina Kolata misrepresents the debate on tPA for strokes by painting the issue as evidence versus belief. More
Hidden influence: Financial conflicts you might have missed
Recent conflicts of interest in medicine and health policy you probably missed... More
Industry payments to doctors: Opioids are the tip of the iceberg
A closer look at the hundreds of millions that pharma spends on payments to physicians. More
Industry payments to doctors: Opioids are the tip of the iceberg
A closer look at the hundreds of millions that pharma spends on payments to physicians. More
Hospitals are making a fortune on Wall Street
The nation's largest not-for-profit hospital systems reaped more than $21 billion last year from their Wall Street investments, mergers and other investment options, according to an Axios analysis of financial documents. More
Health care? More like health scare!
Every day is Halloween for pharma marketers... More
Conflicts of interest complicate Hep C research debate
Researchers and advocates are up in arms over a new review of Hepatitis C treatments. But look who's funding each side... More
Why corruption is the new normal in health care (and what we can do about it)
From industry payments to kickbacks, corruption is everywhere in health care. And it comes at a high cost to patient safety. More
What the FDA isn’t telling about duloxetine
When researchers and the press started asking about duloxetine, the FDA didn’t scour its database and go public. It kept quiet. More