Texas is home to three of the ten U.S. hospitals that overuse stents the most, according to new research from The Lown Institute. The costly procedure is unnecessarily performed every seven minutes, and UT Southwestern’s Clements University Hospital is among the facilities that overuse stents the most. More
A new report from the Lown Institute finds that hospitals' unnecessary coronary stent use costs Medicare $800 million a year. More
Stents are small mesh tubes inserted into weak or narrow arteries and other passageways to keep them open in patients with coronary artery disease, widen arteries clogged with plaque, and keep blood flowing. The new report estimated that one in five stents implanted between 2019 and 2021 were unnecessary because the patient was not at high risk for a heart attack, the Lown Institute, an independent research firm, found.
By the numbers: Hospitals placed about 1 million stents in Medicare beneficiaries between 2019 and 2021, and more than 1 in 5 met the criteria for overuse, according to the Lown Institute, a health care think tank. More
One Texas hospital has over half of stents placed meeting criteria for overuseopens in a new tab or window, according to the nationwide ranking in a report from the Lown Institute. More
"The frequency at which stents are overused shows that many physicians are struggling to keep up with the evidence," Vikas Sani, MD, cardiologist and president of the Lown Institute, said in an Oct. 31 news release. "To be socially responsible, hospitals need to take a more active role in reducing these unnecessary procedures." More
The researchers said the unnecessary procedures aren’t only costly for Medicare but can also run a patient around $1,600, with Medicare paying the remaining roughly $9,000. Stent procedures also run the risk of tears in the artery, blood clots and kidney damage, according to the report. More
“When physicians continue a practice despite the evidence against it, it becomes more dangerous than useful.” cardiologist Vikas Saini, MD, president of the Lown Institute, said in statement. “The overuse of stents is incredibly wasteful and puts hundreds of thousands of patients in harm’s way.” More
A report out today from the Lown Institute says unnecessary use of coronary stents could cost Medicare an estimated $800 million a year. Looking at more than 1,700 hospitals and outpatient centers, the think tank determined more than 1 in 5 procedures from 2019 through 2021 met criteria for overuse. More
More than one in five coronary stents doctors placed in Medicare patients from 2019 through 2022 weren't needed; and they cost the federal health program and beneficiaries about $2.4 billion, according to the analysis by Lown Institute, a nonprofit think tank. More
Allina Health owns 13 hospitals and more than 90 clinics in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Its nonprofit status enabled Allina to avoid roughly $266 million in state, local and federal taxes in 2020, according to the Lown Institute, a think tank that studies health care. More
“The distinction between not-for-profit and for-profit — certainly in health care and certainly in relationship to hospitals — is negligible or nonexistent,” said Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute, a nonpartisan think tank that publishes data on hospital CEO pay and community benefit spending. “This, I think, is additional evidence of that.” More
The Lown Hospital Index for Social Responsibility analyzed facility's outcomes, value of care, and health equity. More
“Good hospitals make their patients healthier, but socially responsible hospitals make their communities healthier too,” President Dr. Vikas Saini, president of Lown Institute, said in a statement. “These are the hospitals America needs right now — hospitals that can set and achieve ambitious goals for serving their entire community.” More
On June 7, Dr. Altaf Saadi was presented with the Bernard Lown Award for Social Responsibility. Created in honor of pioneering Nobel Peace prize recipient, cardiologist, humanitarian, and inventor Dr. Lown after his death in 2021, the award recognizes young clinicians who stand out for their bold leadership in social justice, environmentalism, global peace, or other humanitarian efforts. More
Presbyterian Santa Fe Medical Center is the most socially responsible hospital in New Mexico and the 16th in the country. That’s according to the Lown Institute, a nonprofit health organization, which released its annual rankings for socially responsible hospitals across the country. The rankings — which grade hospitals on 53 metrics across patient outcomes, value of care, and health equity — include grades for nearly 4,000 hospitals.
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And an April report by the Lown Institute, a health care think tank, said more than 1,350 nonprofit hospitals have “fair share” deficits, meaning the value of their community investments fails to equal the value of their tax breaks.
“With so many Americans struggling with medical debt and access to care, the need for hospitals to give back as much as they take grows stronger every day,” said Vikas Saini, president of the institute.
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60% of U.S. hospitals are nonprofit hospitals. The non-partisan Lown Institute estimates those institutions receive $30 billion in tax breaks each year. The institute recently evaluated nonprofit hospitals for their community benefits. They found that three-quarters received more in tax breaks than the hospitals spent on charity care or other community benefits. More
And an April report by the Lown Institute, a health care think tank, said more than 1,350 nonprofit hospitals have “fair share” deficits, meaning the value of their community investments fails to equal the value of their tax breaks. “With so many Americans struggling with medical debt and access to care, the need for hospitals to give back as much as they take grows stronger every day,” said Vikas Saini, president of the institute.