America’s “best” hospitals charge high drug price markups
A recent study examines insurer-negotiated prices for ten expensive drugs at the 20 top US News & World Report hospitals. More
PRESS RELEASE: The best bang for the buck: Where are America’s most cost-efficient hospitals
First-ever ranking examines costs at 3,000 hospitals, identifying $8 billion in potential Medicare savings BOSTON, MA — A new analysis identifies the most cost-efficient hospitals in America and highlights how potentially billions of dollars could be saved in the nation’s Medicare program. The analysis from the Lown Institute, a health care think tank, uncovered big […] More
High-priced cancer drugs are driving pharma revenue
Has pharma cracked the secret code to profit through cancer drugs? A recent study takes a closer look at the impact of cancer drug prices on pharma revenues. More
Gresham Hospital Named One Of Nation’s Top 10 Most ‘Socially Responsible’
“The financial realities for hospitals are at odds with other things we might want hospitals to do,” study co-creator Shannon Brownlee said during the release of the Lown Institute Index for Social Responsibility. “The real goal is to start seeing hospitals in a different light.” Dr. Vikas Saini, the Lown Institute president, said the rankings are not designed for consumers to decide where to schedule their next elective procedure, but rather for informed citizens to think about the public good hospitals ought to provide in exchange for the tax benefits and privileged status they receive in the community. “We want them to think about these rankings more like: ‘What kind of health care system do we have, and is that the one I want for myself, my community and my country?’” Dr. Saini said. “I don’t think we want a system that has no soul, even if we live forever.” More
Lown Institute rankings ask what hospitals owe their communities in return for tax exempt status and ranks Cleveland Clinic worst in U.S.
When examining 3,641 private nonprofit hospitals for its rankings, Lown looked beyond the usual metrics used to evaluate hospitals. It sought to encourage these organizations to be more responsible and accountable to the communities they serve, said Dr. Vikas Saini, president of Lown Institute. “The reason our rankings matter is because, as citizens, all of us have a huge stake in how high quality, how affordable and how just our health care system is,” Saini said. “We’re reporting measures that do all of that.” More
These are the top 10 socially responsible hospitals in the U.S.: report
Only 75 hospitals achieved an “A” grade across all three categories used to determine social responsibility: equity, value and outcomes. None of the top 20 U.S. News & World Report hospitals made the honor roll, despite scoring well for value and outcomes. More
How socially responsible are Sacramento region’s hospitals? Check out their report cards
Only one California hospital ranked among the 10 most socially responsible hospitals in the United States: Tiny Oroville Hospital, which landed at No. 4 this year on the Lown Institute Hospitals Index. The hospital serves a large number of Medi-Cal beneficiaries and patients with low education levels, according to the report released Tuesday by the Lown Institute, while also excelling at preventing patient errors and re-admissions, keeping mortality rates low and quality clinical outcomes and running an efficient operation. More
Cleveland Clinic is So Bad at Equity That it Can’t Crack Top 500 U.S. Hospitals When Social Responsibility Metrics are Included
The Cleveland Clinic, the second-best hospital in the nation as ranked by U.S. News and World Report, ranks so poorly in equity metrics that it failed to crack the United States' top 500 hospitals when "social responsibility" was taken into account. More
Who’s on Lown Institute’s list of most ‘socially responsible’ hospitals?
The second annual most socially responsible hospitals rankings are out from the Lown Institute. More
Johns Hopkins Bayview and University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown among most ‘socially responsible’ hospitals, according to health care think tank
Two Baltimore hospitals — Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and the University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus — have been ranked among the top 10 most “socially responsible” health centers in the U.S. by health care think tank and consulting organization.
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Hospitals with top clinical outcomes often don’t score well in equity metrics, rankings find
"We think that hospitals represent really kind of probably the central part, certainly the most visible and the most active part, of all of American healthcare," Lown Institute President Vikas Saini said. "And to get a better healthcare system, hospitals absolutely have to be part of the solution." Saini noted that the individual hospitals on the honor roll were not particularly well-known names. "That was the goal of our whole exercise was to really begin to shine a spotlight on hospitals that might be doing things in a way that hadn't yet been really discovered or recognized," he said. More
Hospital Performance on Health Equity, Social Responsibility Low
Relatively few top healthcare organizations rank high for health equity and social responsibility, a jarring finding considering medicine’s statements committing to health equity over the past year, the Lown Institute reported in a press release sent to journalists. More
20 most socially responsible hospitals: Lown Institute
The Lown Institute, a nonpartisan healthcare think tank, unveiled the social responsibility ranking Sept. 21. The social responsibility list ranks 3,010 hospitals and is based on 54 metrics across three main categories: equity, value and outcomes. More
PRESS RELEASE: Equity is the missing piece for elite hospitals to be truly socially responsible
The full results of the Lown Hospitals Index reveals which hospitals achieve on equity, outcomes, and value... and which hospitals fall short. More
Should regulatory authorities approve drugs based on surrogate endpoints?
When the FDA approved new Alzheimer's drug Aduhelm based on little clinical evidence, experts protested. Yet the Aduhelm controversy is just the latest in a pattern of regulators approving new drugs based on surrogate endpoints rather than clinical outcomes that matter to patients. In The BMJ, Jeanne Lenzer and Shannon Brownlee argue that surrogate endpoints provide no guarantee of clinical benefit and should be used only as a last resort in drug trials. More
The FDA Is Broken
How the Food and Drug Administration messes up approval of new drugs including the new one, aducanumab, that supposedly helps Alzheimer’s disease patients. More
How to stop hospitals suing patients
When researchers, media, and advocates teamed up to bring attention to hospital lawsuits, it led to a dramatic decrease in lawsuits filed. What can we learn from this initiative? More
After company protest, FDA agrees to review controversial drug to prevent premature birth
“This drug needs to be pulled off the market — period," said Adam Uratro, the chief of maternal-fetal medicine at MetroWest Medical Center. More
Op-ed: Hospitals need to comply with price transparency
As a matter of simple economics, hospital price transparency will improve competition and encourage more equitable pricing. More
Conflicts of Interest and Authors of Commentaries in Medical Journals
og:description Medical journals are relied on as trusted sources of medical information. For years, authors’ conflicts of interest—both disclosed and undisclosed— have repeatedly undermined the credibility of the medical profession and the medical literature. More