“Every field of medicine has more than the public realizes of stuff like this where the evidence doesn’t really support it that much,” Saini said. “When you do it across all of American health care, it’s actually a significant piece of the health care cost.” More
“Like everyone in America, older people with back pain deserve safe, evidence-based care that doesn’t waste taxpayer dollars,” Vikas Saini, M.D., president of the Lown Institute, said in a release. “Reducing unnecessary procedures, particularly invasive ones that carry grave risks, is a moral imperative.” More
"We're not doing this just to draw attention to the fact that there is unnecessary surgery," Lown president Vikas Saini, MD, told MedPage Today. "We're doing it to track how much, so people who want to do something about it have a guideline." More
U.S. hospitals performed more than 200,000 unnecessary back surgeries on older adults that cost taxpayers $1.9 billion, according to a new analysis of Medicare and Medicare Advantage claims data. More
The goal of Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction is to “help protect American taxpayers” by “helping patients and providers avoid unnecessary or inappropriate care,” according to the government. The 17 affected services are commonly overused or historically have had a higher risk of waste, fraud and abuse, according to the Lown Institute, a health care think tank More
As much as half of all spinal fusions don’t alleviate pain — why do doctors perform so many? More
"Depending on what you count, over‑prescribing costs the United States anywhere from a few billion dollars a year in easily measurable drug waste to more than half a trillion dollars…" writes Dr. Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute. More
According to the Lown Institute, Michigan’s nonprofit hospitals spent just 1.76% of their expenses on community benefit programs like charity care — the lowest among 20 states studied. That leaves a lot of room for hospitals to do more to serve their communities. More
The data to support these criticisms has been cataloged and quantified by the Lown Institute, a nonpartisan think tank interested in “bold ideas for a just and caring system for health.” It’s abundantly clear that “nonprofit” is now a misnomer when referring to hospitals. The fair share deficit — the disparity between what a hospital provides its community and what it receives from the American taxpayer — reached an all-time high of $25.7 billion in 2024. Yet fully 80% of “no-profit” hospitals claimed to be “in the red. More
The Lown Institute has released its highly anticipated index of America's Most Socially Responsible Hospitals. This year's honor roll comes at a critical time, as hospitals work to maintain equitable care amid potential Medicaid cuts, rising costs and ongoing workforce challenges. Duke Regional Hospital topped this year's acute care ranking, marking its fifth year on the list. More
Lown, a nonpartisan healthcare think tank, annually evaluates hospitals nationwide on more than 50 metrics pertaining to equity, value and health outcomes. Out of more than 2,700 acute care hospitals nationwide, Lown recognized 125 “Honor Roll” hospitals for achieving the highest scores in its latest 2025-2026 rankings.
“We're in the business of meeting people where they are,” Jason Carter [president and chief operating officer of Duke Regional] said. “So for us, access is the best indicator for downstream care. How can we care for our community, not in episodes of care, but creating systems of care? And that will only happen when we create trust with our community and do things, and engage in ways that people know it is safe to come seek their care with us.” More
“These hospitals show that no matter how tough the environment gets, putting patients and communities first is always possible,” Vikas Saini, M.D., president of the Lown Institute. “Those returning to the list prove that equitable, high-value care doesn’t have to be rare, it’s a standard hospitals can uphold year after year.” More
Dr Vikas Saini is a Cardiologist and President of the Lown Institute, where he leads a non-partisan think tank advocating bold ideas for a just and caring system for health. With a unique background combining philosophy and medicine, Dr. Saini has spent decades examining the intersection of ethics, evidence, and economics in healthcare. His work on the Social Responsibility Index challenges traditional hospital rankings by measuring what truly matters: equity, value, and patient outcomes rather than reputation and revenue."The enterprise of medicine has both scientific and moral dimensions, and they're inextricably balanced"
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"When hospitals fail to make access to assistance easy and predictable, it drives people away from care and erodes trust in our entire system," Saini explained. "Right now, the burden is on patients to navigate a broken system. That has to change." More
“This isn’t a case of red states versus blue states, or rural areas versus cities,” Vikas Saini, MD, president of the Lown Institute, said in a June 2 news release from the organization. “We’re seeing massive disparities in charity care policies between hospitals that are practically around the corner from each other. Unfortunately, low- and middle-income patients are the ones who deal with the consequences.” More
The recently released study was conducted by the Boston-based Lown Institute, an independent healthcare think tank. The organization examined 1,800 nonprofit hospitals in 20 states, using average numbers from 2020, 2021 and 2022.
The practice of hospitals receiving massive tax breaks and then billing patients who should receive free care "is not something that really should be allowed," said Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute, a think tank that studies the nonprofit hospital industry. "For nonprofits, it really should not be about maximizing the bottom line," he said. More
Nonprofit hospitals in Colorado face renewed scrutiny over how much they spend locally compared to the tax breaks they receive. More