Hospitals performed more than 200,000 unnecessary back surgeries on Medicare beneficiaries in the U.S. over three years, according to a new analysis. More
In the last three years, U.S. hospitals performed more than 200,000 unnecessary back surgeries on Medicare beneficiaries, according to a Nov. 14 report by the Lown Institute Hospital Index. More
Every eight minutes an unnecessary back surgery is performed, costing Medicare $2 billion over the three years studied. More
Which Medicare Advantage plans do a good job at avoiding overuse for their beneficiaries... and which don't? More
Safety net hospitals across the country are facing downgraded services and closures. Meanwhile, more profitable hospitals within the same systems are expanding and growing bigger than ever. Where is this pattern showing up, and how does it impact patients? More
A new rule from the US Food and Drug Administration just went into effect last month, requiring that mammography providers notify patients about their breast density along with their mammogram results. How does this affect patients? More
Register now for the webinar "Unnecessary Back Surgery: Older Americans put at risk while Billions in Medicare funds wasted" on November 14, 2024. More
Our key takeaways from the recent conference on hospital tax exemptions and community benefit spending, cohosted by the Lown Institute and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. More
Are Black mothers more likely to have unscheduled C-sections? A new working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests yes–and that their likelihood of an unscheduled C-section was greater when there were operating rooms going unused. Same hospital, different c-section rates While C-sections can be a lifesaving option when necessary, they are invasive […] More
A new medical debt relief effort in North Carolina focuses on the impact of changes to financial assistance rather than solely forgiving old medical debt. Here's how they did it.. More
Nonprofit hospitals are under scrutiny for paying executives millions while cutting jobs and reducing community investment. We examined the top ten highest-paid CEOs from 2021, according to the Lown Hospitals Index, to find out more. More
Following interest from policymakers on hospital community benefit spending, the IRS announced it will audit 35 hospitals with a focus on community benefit compliance. Here's what you need to know More
Hospitals in the U.S. are continuing to land in hot water for excessive spending on CEO pay and other extravagances at the same time as they face financial challenges and lay off hundreds. More
Could AI and other machine learning help ameliorate our nation’s medical debt crisis—or will it make the problem worse? It all depends on how hospitals use these tools, write Kelsey Chalmers, PhD, our own Director of Research, Data Science at the Lown Institute, and Christopher W. Goodman, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, in a recent JAMA Internal Medicine viewpoint. More
A new study estimates that the five most common cancer screenings cost $43 billion in 2021. How exactly was this money spent and where might it have gone instead? More
UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest health care company, is under fire for allegedly encouraging clinicians to overdiagnose peripheral artery disease in their Medicare Advantage patients to inflate profits. What does Lown data have to say about this situation? More
While Harris and Walz have challenged corporate power, politicians do so only because voters are pushing for it, cautioned Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute, a health-care think tank. “The health-care corporations now are mega-regional players. They have huge clout. It would really take much more than a single politician,” Saini said. “It’s going to take a broader movement in the country. … Maybe we’ll get there as there is a lot of pain.”
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340B is more than a big pile of money. The program is a band-aid covering up huge problems with our health system that can no longer be ignored. The 340B drug discount program is a hugely important policy issue for hospitals and drug companies, but the most of the rest of us have never heard of it or barely understand it. Why is pharma and the hospital industry getting so worked up about 340B, and how does any of this matter? Here’s what you need to know about a growing policy battle… More
Fixing American healthcare will require more than mere tweaks around the edges. Dr. Vikas Saini, president of the Boston-based Lown Institute, believes that it will require a return to medicine’s humanist roots. In this interview he describes some of the ways in which many healthcare organizations prioritize revenue and profit over patients and communities. He also explains why he remains optimistic that Hippocratic principles will ultimately prevail. More
Five years after the Lown Institute’s report on medication overload was published, this issue continues to be relevant in American health care. What are the harms of medication overload, how can you avoid it, and what policy changes do we need? More