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
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
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
How professional inertia harms patients and wastes billions of dollars. More
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
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
AI-supported cancer screenings have the potential to reduce false positives ...but they could also exacerbate overdiagnosis. More
As private equity’s infiltration into cardiology expands, what does this mean for the cost and quality of care? More
Cancer screenings save lives, right? It's actually more complicated than that... More
Unlike its predecessor drug aducanumab, lecanemab actually showed a statistically significant difference in slowing cognitive decline in its clinical trial. But can the drug improve patients’ quality of life? More
On the podcast "Turn on the Lights," hosted by Kedar Mate and Don Berwick of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Lown Institute president Vikas Saini explains how overuse takes hold in medicine and how patients can protect themselves from the harms of unnecessary care. More
The Lown Hospital Index for Social Responsibility analyzed facility's outcomes, value of care, and health equity. More
Over 3,600 hospitals were evaluated across the nation. Fifty-four earned A’s across the three main categories of equity, value, and outcomes, earning them Honor Roll status. To have a socially responsible healthcare system, we need more hospitals performing better on metrics like pay equity, racial inclusivity, and community investment. So how do we accomplish this goal? More
Which hospitals make the grade this year, and how can we improve hospital social responsibility across the board? Join Lown Institute leaders and health policy experts on July 18th as we reveal America’s most socially responsible hospitals and discuss how to build a system where all hospitals can reach their health equity goals. More
A recent analysis by the Lown Institute, a nonprofit health care think tank, highlighted some key USPSTF figures that show the limits of mammograms in a helpful way. The analysis imagines a world without screening mammograms, in which women seek evaluation for breast cancer only when they notice a breast lump or other concerning symptoms. According to the USPSTF’s models, about 28 out of every 1,000 women in this world would die from breast cancer at some point in their lives.
The USPSTF just lowered the recommended screening age for breast cancer from 50 to 40. What were the reasons for this change and what are the potential harms and benefits? More
A recent editorial published in JAMA Dermatology discussed the balance between prevention and overdiagnosis of skin cancer. This comes in response to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force concluding for the fourth time in a row that visual skin cancer screening has insufficient evidence to support its population-wide benefit. How do we know when we’ve crossed from prevention to overuse, and is there anything we can do to keep the balance? More
“Polypharmacy”, as doctors call it, imposes a big drag on health. A recent study at a hospital in Liverpool found that nearly one in five hospital admissions was caused by adverse reactions to drugs. The Lown Institute, an American think-tank, reckons that, between 2020 and 2030, medication overload in America could cause more than 150,000 premature deaths and 4.5m hospital admissions. More
Two recent analyses of expensive medications indicate that many drugs are being priced above their actual clinical benefit. More
The Lown Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, argues in its 2019 report, Medication Overload: America’s Other Drug Problem, that Americans are experiencing an epidemic of medication that is particularly harmful to older adults. According to the report, more than 40% of older adults take five or more prescription medicines daily, and 20% take ten drugs or more. More