Last week, we hosted the 6th annual Shkreli Awards, calling out the worst profiteers and dysfunction in the healthcare system in 2022. In a perfect world, these awards wouldn’t be necessary. In our world, we have a plethora of candidates to consider. More
“If we’re ever going to get to the great health system that Americans deserve, we have to call out bad behavior,” Dr. Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute, said in a statement. “The Shkreli Awards are a mirror that’s hard to look into, but we’ve got to do it.” More
Lown Institute president Vikas Saini, MD, told MedPage Today that this year's list reads like "a tragic comedy of grift and profiteering." If the actions of these companies and individuals seem to be worse than in past years, Saini said that's because governmental agencies and media organizations appear to be "more vigilant in calling out bad actors." More
A new series of articles on healthcare segregation provides a call to action and a way forward for all actors in the healthcare system looking to improve racial and economic equity More
From massive insurance fraud to a dentist that intentionally broke patients’ teeth, here are this year’s worst examples of greed and dysfunction in healthcare. More
Amid a wave of intensified criticism of hospital CEO pay at large, one source continues to pay close attention to the ratio of executive compensation to worker wages at more than 300 health systems. That source is Lown Institute, a nonpartisan think tank that measures hospitals' and health systems' social responsibility through 53 metrics related to inclusivity, pay equity, community benefit, care value and outcomes. More
Can community empowerment solve persistent population health disparities that other strategies have failed to fix? More
Because of its nonprofit status, Ascension avoids more than $1 billion a year in federal, state and local taxes, according to the Lown Institute, a health care think tank. Until the pandemic, Ascension was consistently profitable, earning hundreds of millions a year. More
While the pandemic was a breaking point for many healthcare workers, some hospital systems were cutting staff well before 2020... More
Insurers are required to publish their negotiated prices for all services. The problem is, there's too much data... More
After enduring years of stressful and heartbreaking work through the Covid-19 pandemic, healthcare workers are quitting in droves. What can we do about the healthcare staffing crisis? More
While hospital systems focus on more lucrative adult care operations, often sacrificing pediatric care in the process, the consequences of such decisions are often ignored, Brenna Miller, a health communications specialist at think tank the Lown Institute, wrote on its site Dec. 5. More
The Lown Institute of Needham has long argued that hospitals perform way too many procedures it has identified as being low-value, meaning they offer little to no clinical benefit to patients and, in many cases, are more likely to harm them than help them. More
It's the time of year where most of us are getting into the "giving spirit." But recent investigations show that some hospitals are instead putting up obstacles to financial assistance. More
Pediatric units are closing across the country, leaving parents and their sick kids without easy access to healthcare. Why is this happening, and what are the long-term consequences? More
The Lown Institute calls for greater transparency and accountability. More
With $8 and 9 words, one internet troll is forcing insulin manufacturers to answer the question of why the drug is so unaffordable More
Which hospitals are walking the talk on social responsibility? A new feature in Frontiers of Health Services Management showcases the Lown Index and winning hospitals. More
Nine city hospitals have spent millions of dollars less on community investments than they receive in tax breaks, according to a report released this week by the Lown Institute, a nonprofit health care think tank. More
A new report from the Lown Institute—a healthcare think tank—suggests that New York City hospitals have not been holding up their end of the bargain when it comes to local tax breaks and community investment. The study looked at 21 hospitals and found that "nine have a Fair Share deficit—meaning that the value of their community investments fails to equal the value of their federal, state, and local tax breaks." The study found that—in total—the nine hospitals are $727 million short of equaling the $1.2 billion in tax breaks they received in 2019. More