REGISTER: Are hospitals giving back as much as they take? A close-up look at California
Communities invest in their local nonprofit hospitals through big tax breaks. Are hospitals giving back their fair share in return? To find out, the Lown Institute analyzed hospital community investments compared to the value of their tax breaks—what we call “Fair Share Spending.” More
“Nudging” doctors to reduce overuse
How can we combat cognitive biases and reduce overuse? Recent studies provide insights for "nudging" doctors away from low-value care. More
A win for high-value care: CMS approves new measure of CT radiation quality
This new measure of radiation quality sheds light on an important potential harm of imaging overuse. Here’s what it means for the future of provider accountability and patient safety. More
Study finds racial disparities in low-value care, even within the same health systems
Are Black patients at higher or lower risk of overuse? A new study reveals how patterns of low-value differ by race in the Medicare population. More
Report: Texas Hospitals Use Too Many Stents
Texas is home to three of the ten U.S. hospitals that overuse stents the most, according to new research from The Lown Institute. The costly procedure is unnecessarily performed every seven minutes, and UT Southwestern’s Clements University Hospital is among the facilities that overuse stents the most. More
10 hospitals with the lowest rate of stent overuse: Lown Institute
A new report from the Lown Institute finds that hospitals' unnecessary coronary stent use costs Medicare $800 million a year. More
US Taxpayers Spend Over $800million A YEAR On Unnecessary Heart Stents, Report Finds
Stents are small mesh tubes inserted into weak or narrow arteries and other passageways to keep them open in patients with coronary artery disease, widen arteries clogged with plaque, and keep blood flowing. The new report estimated that one in five stents implanted between 2019 and 2021 were unnecessary because the patient was not at high risk for a heart attack, the Lown Institute, an independent research firm, found.
Taxpayers Spent Over $800 Million For Unnecessary Coronary Stents A Year, Report Finds
Unnecessary coronary stents cost taxpayers $800 million yearly: study
By the numbers: Hospitals placed about 1 million stents in Medicare beneficiaries between 2019 and 2021, and more than 1 in 5 met the criteria for overuse, according to the Lown Institute, a health care think tank. More
Recent developments of interest in cardiovascular medicine
One Texas hospital has over half of stents placed meeting criteria for overuseopens in a new tab or window, according to the nationwide ranking in a report from the Lown Institute. More
Hospitals’ unnecessary stent use costs Medicare $800M a year
"The frequency at which stents are overused shows that many physicians are struggling to keep up with the evidence," Vikas Sani, MD, cardiologist and president of the Lown Institute, said in an Oct. 31 news release. "To be socially responsible, hospitals need to take a more active role in reducing these unnecessary procedures." More
Stents are costly, overused: study
The researchers said the unnecessary procedures aren’t only costly for Medicare but can also run a patient around $1,600, with Medicare paying the remaining roughly $9,000. Stent procedures also run the risk of tears in the artery, blood clots and kidney damage, according to the report. More
‘More dangerous than useful’: 1 in 5 coronary stents implanted by cardiologists are unnecessary, wasting $800M per year
“When physicians continue a practice despite the evidence against it, it becomes more dangerous than useful.” cardiologist Vikas Saini, MD, president of the Lown Institute, said in statement. “The overuse of stents is incredibly wasteful and puts hundreds of thousands of patients in harm’s way.” More
Unnecessary stents can cost Medicare $800 million a year, new analysis estimates
A report out today from the Lown Institute says unnecessary use of coronary stents could cost Medicare an estimated $800 million a year. Looking at more than 1,700 hospitals and outpatient centers, the think tank determined more than 1 in 5 procedures from 2019 through 2021 met criteria for overuse. More
Once every seven minutes, a Medicare patient gets a coronary stent they don’t need, report says.
More than one in five coronary stents doctors placed in Medicare patients from 2019 through 2022 weren't needed; and they cost the federal health program and beneficiaries about $2.4 billion, according to the analysis by Lown Institute, a nonprofit think tank. More
The prevalence and harm of unnecessary stents
A new report from the Lown Institute finds that U.S. hospitals performed more than 229,000 unnecessary stents on Medicare patients from 2019-2021. Here's what overuse experts had to say about the issue... More
PRESS RELEASE: Unnecessary coronary stents cost Medicare as much as $800 million per year
How professional inertia harms patients and wastes billions of dollars. More
An ethical imperative: How nurses can be leaders in reducing overuse
Nurses are among the most trusted profession in the US and have a lot to gain from reducing unnecessary care, yet this potential for nurses to lead the charge has gone largely untapped. Experts share their insights on value-informed nursing and their visions for the future. More
REGISTER: How unnecessary stents harm patients and waste billions of dollars
How often are these procedures happening, and where? How much are we wasting on these low-value services? And what can we do to prevent unnecessary care? More