As Patients Struggle With Bills, Hospital Sues Thousands
The New York Times More
Patients with incurable disease claim doctor offered cure, took their money and closed office
Five people who all were either patients or consulted with a west Nashville doctor said he offered to cure them of their incurable disease. “There are lots and lots of diseases that can't be cured. So when your doctor says I can cure you. Or, it's a good thing you came to me, you should start having your antenna raised,” Brownlee said. More
Proton center marks 10 years in Oklahoma
Oklahoma Proton Center is completing upgrades to software and equipment as it anticipates treating its 3,000th cancer patient this fall.
However, not everyone within the medical community is sold on proton therapy, which has not been widely proven to be more successful than standard radiation that is much cheaper.
“It’s controversial because it’s incredibly expensive, and there isn’t any evidence that it actually works for many of the ways it’s being used,” Shannon Brownlee, senior vice president at the Lown Institute, a Brookline-based health care think tank, told the Boston Globe this year.
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How conflicts of interest put new mothers at risk
How undisclosed conflicts of interest may have put millions of pregnant and postpartum women at risk... More
Summer updates in conflicts of interest research
Recent developments in research on financial conflicts of interest in medicine are helping health care watchdogs hold health professionals and institutions accountable for their financial relationships with industry. Read on! More
Rating the Raters: An Evaluation of Publicly Reported Hospital Quality Rating Systems
The numerous currently available public hospital quality rating systems frequently offer conflicting results, which may mislead stakeholders relying on the ratings to identify top-performing hospitals. Given that there is no gold standard for how a rating system should be constructed or perform and no objective way to compare the rating systems, we evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of four major public hospital quality rating systems based on our experience as physician scientists with methodological expertise in health care quality measurement. More
Accountability
The driving factor in health decisions should be what’s best for the patient, not the corporation. More
Robotic Surgical Tool, Not Medical Evidence, Drives Free Hernia Screenings
Hospitals say such screenings provide valuable education about treatment options for the common medical condition, in which part of the intestine protrudes through a weak spot in the abdominal wall. But no research has been done on hernia screenings, and some experts worry that these outreach efforts — some of which showcase da Vinci robotic surgery devices made by Intuitive Surgical based in Sunnyvale, Calif. — could lead people to get potentially harmful operations they don’t need. More
Is high-tech always worth the high cost? Experts question Kansas City’s new proton beam machine
As the University of Kansas Hospital prepares to proudly unveil their new proton beam machine, they should also be preparing to answer some tough questions about the cost and effectiveness of this therapy. More
It’s time to wake up from the REMS cycle
Can we trust drug companies to monitor and regulate the safety of their own products? More
Should patients bear more of the cost for ambulance rides?
Should patients be on the hook for ambulance rides for non-emergencies? It's not that simple, write Dr. Surafel Tsega and Dr. Harry Cho in JAMA. More
Which hospitals sue patients for unpaid medical bills?
It's not the hospitals you might expect... More
The monopolization of health care goes beyond hospitals
We know that consolidation among hospitals and insurance companies leads to higher prices. But what about consolidation in other areas of health care? More
Accelerated drug approval has not come with accelerated evidence
Is the FDA's accelerated approval program resulting in better cancer drugs? Two new studies provide insight... More
Is this $2 million gene therapy drug priced “fairly”?
The approval of a new gene therapy to treat spinal muscular atrophy has created a hot debate in the health policy world about whether or not the drug's $2.1 million price tag is too expensive or a fair price. More
Are Fat Hospital Salaries for Doctors Really Kickbacks?
For a hospital that had once labored to break even, Wheeling Hospital displayed abnormally deep pockets when recruiting doctors. To lure Dr. Adam Tune, an anesthesiologist from nearby Pittsburgh who specialized in pain management, the Catholic hospital built a clinic for him to run on its campus in Wheeling, West Virginia. It paid Tune as much as $1.2 million a year—well above the salaries of 90 percent of pain management physicians across the nation, the federal government charged in a lawsuit filed this spring. “If we’re going to solve the health care pricing problem, these kinds of practices are going to have to go away,” said Dr. Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute, a Massachusetts nonprofit that advocates for affordable care. More
Can health journalism be saved?
Popular health news often fails to reflect the incrementalism and nuance of medical discoveries, instead hyping unproven treatments. Can we save health journalism? More
Private equity investments in physician practices and overuse
Physician practices are increasingly being bought up by private equity firms. What does this mean for quality of care and overuse? More
Investigating the “spin cycle” in cardiovascular research
A new study in JAMA shows how often cardiovascular trials contain misleading information... More
Many Anti-Vaxxers Don’t Trust Big Pharma. There’s a Reason for That.
Vaccine opponents often share a conviction that the health care system is more interested in profits and power than helping people. Are they wrong? More