Ahead of this year’s Shkreli’s on Thursday, December 11, we’re revisiting several past winners who reappeared in headlines this year—a Shkreli “class reunion” of sorts—to see what our most disreputable alums have been up to. More
Register now for the 2025 Shkreli Awards, hosted on December 11, 2025 at 1pm More
We called 86 hospitals and primary care offices to see how long it would take to get a new patient appointment. Here's what we found. More
Several recent studies show that conflicts of interest are deeply entrenched in modern medicine and existing regulations are doing little to rein in the problem. More
How is the growth of private equity acquisitions in healthcare impacting veterans? At a roundtable event hosted by the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, researchers and policy experts discussed the drivers and consequences of these acquisitions going unchecked. Watch the event recording! More
These are the #1 hospitals in each state, according to the 2025 Lown Hospitals Index for Social Responsibility. More
US News & World Report just released their list of “best hospitals” for 2025-26, which is based primarily on patient outcomes for complex specialty care and common procedures. The Lown Hospitals Index for Social Responsibility takes a different approach to hospital ranking, evaluating hospitals on metrics of equity and value as well as outcomes. Here's how the 2025 US News best hospitals perform on the Lown Index. More
Findings from a statewide analysis of Missouri hospital policies More
A federal judge recently struck down a rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) seeking to remove medical debt from credit reports. How will this affect medical debt in the future? More
Hospitals have a lot of leeway to decide who is eligible for financial assistance. In some cases, hospitals don't allow any elective care to be eligible. What impact could that have on health or medical debt? 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
Register now for the webinar "America's Most Socially Responsible Hospitals" on June 25, 2025. 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
Analysis of 2,500 charity care policies finds patients with identical income and medical needs could receive free care at one hospital, yet face collections or lawsuits at another. More