A new report examining the finances of nonprofit hospitals in New York City finds that some hospitals fall significantly short on expected community investments. More
Nominations for the annual Bernard Lown Award for Social Responsibility are now open! More
What could be a fruitful conversation on racial equity is being co-opted by pharmaceutical companies to sell unproven drugs. More
Fair share spending results Fair Share in the News Subscribe to the Lown Weekly Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get free blogs, news, and updates on our projects. View/download slides More
Skipping doses, intentionally undermedicating, not eating - these are all measures 1.3 million Americans are forced to take to keep their insulin costs down. More
From approval to withdrawal, the story of Makena shows some of the major pitfalls of the FDA's drug approval process. More
The Lown Institute's annual Shkreli Awards highlight the most egregious examples of profiteering and dysfunction in our healthcare system. From systemic failures to negligence to fraud, the Shkreli Awards are here to spotlight the worst. On January 10 at 1 pm ET, we will be counting down the top ten most glaring examples of our broken system, and you're invited! More
These five events are the administrative equivalent of operating on the wrong limb... More
The reasoning behind this decision has to do with a complex bioethical question - if there is the potential to treat a previously untreatable disease with a new pharmaceutical, but the consequences are unknown, do you prescribe the drug? Is the unknown enough to deny patients hope? More
The Lown Institute Hospitals Index calculated “fair share spending” for more than 1,800 hospitals across 275 nonprofit hospital systems by comparing each system’s spending on charity care and community investment to the value of its tax exemption. More
Two recent studies show the high cost patients face from unnecessary imaging and follow up events. More
In January 2020, Lown Institute released “Eliminating Medication Overload: A National Action Plan.” The National Action Plan provides recommendations for policymakers, foundations, healthcare institutions, clinicians and patients across five key categories. More
Last week, Lown experts Dr. Vikas Saini and Judith Garber were featured in a conversation about the responsibility between hospitals and the community at the 2022 Medicaid Institute, hosted by the Center for Community Solutions. More
How can mortality be reduced by colonoscopies but not by a colonoscopy screening program? We break down the results from the groundbreaking NordICC trial. More
Regardless of tax status, medical centers in markets with high medical debt do provide more charity care, according to an analysis by KHN and the Urban Institute, a Washington think tank. That’s important, said Dr. Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute, a nonprofit that grades hospitals on their quality and community benefits. But he asked: “Is a hospital truly serving its community if it’s pushing so many into debt?” More
Over the past 20 years, private equity investments in the United States healthcare sector have increased twentyfold, reaching above $100 billion. How have these acquisitions changed the business practices of hospitals and other healthcare organizations? This blog is the second in a series the Lown Institute is developing on the effects and implications of private equity acquisitions sweeping the healthcare industry. More
A recent study of hospital financial assistance policies shows how some policies became more generous after Covid-19, some became more restrictive, and some just got weird... More
Through our work with the Lown Institute Hospitals Index, we’ve seen how socially responsible hospitals can be. These top hospitals prioritize equity, while maintaining excellent patient outcomes and avoiding overuse. But not all hospitals have performed well on social responsibility. In fact, the New York Times recently highlighted two nonprofit hospital systems that have gone against their social mission and put profits over patients fair share spending was featured in these articles. Here’s a breakdown of what the Times uncovered. More
According to the Lown Institute, a nonpartisan think tank that recently published its 2022 hospital fair share spending rankings , 83% of hospital systems evaluated spent less on charity care and community investment than the estimated value of their tax breaks — what Lown Institute calls a “fair share deficit.” Mayo Clinic’s fair share deficit is $328 million, the 11th worst in the country. More
'Medication Overload: America’s Other Drug Problem', a report released in 2019 by the Lown Institute, chronicles the epidemic of polypharmacy in the United States. More