How can mortality be reduced by colonoscopies but not by a colonoscopy screening program? We break down the results from the groundbreaking NordICC trial. More
'Medication Overload: America’s Other Drug Problem', a report released in 2019 by the Lown Institute, chronicles the epidemic of polypharmacy in the United States. More
Even in 2020, when many hospitals were refusing non-urgent surgeries, more than 100,000 unnecessary, and potentially harmful procedures were performed on older patients in the USA, according to anaylsis from health think-tank the Lown Institute.
"You couldn't go into your local coffee shop, but hospitals brought people in for all kinds of unnecessary procedures,"
Do alternative payment plans like Medicare Advantage actually lead to less low-value care? A recent study in JAMA Health Forum has some encouraging results. More
“It’s very easy for doctors and patients to go down the path of doing a medical procedure because it seems like, in theory, it would be safer and better, but that’s not always the case,” says Vikas Saini, MD, a cardiologist and president of the institute. “More medical care isn’t necessarily always better, especially for older adults.” More
Overuse is prevalent in hospitals across the country -- but what about VA hospitals, where providers are paid a salary rather than fee-for-service? More
Congress is considering having Medicare fund blood screening tests, also known as liquid biopsies. Could this lead to cascade events and medical overuse? More
Of the 3,600 hospitals included in this year’s assessment, 66 ranked among the most socially responsible, meaning they earned an “A” rating in at least three of the measurement categories, the Lown Institute said. That represents fewer than 2 percent of participating hospitals, indicating serious room for growth in terms of health equity. More
According to a 2020 report by the Lown Institute, a health-systems think tank that tracks prescription trends, 42% of older Americans routinely take five or more prescription drugs a day and close to 20% take 10 or more. More
What's needed to tackle the problem? The Lown Institute's action plan offers recommendations in five key areas. More
After getting spinal fusion surgery, Lisa French was charged $300,000 after the hospital had quoted her $1,300 for the surgery. When she was unable to pay, the nonprofit hospital sued. As the spinal fusion industry booms, this case shows another risk of unnecessary surgeries -- getting overcharged and potentially sued by hospitals. More
Texas ranked 47th of 50 states in avoiding unnecessary procedures, according to a report by the Lown Institute, a Massachusetts think tank, which found that hospitals across the country performed about 100,000 unnecessary surgeries in 2020. Unnecessary procedures cost the health care system as much as $101 billion a year in wasted spending, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. More
Should we recommend earlier prostate cancer screening for Black men, who have a higher risk of prostate cancer mortality? We examine the pros and cons of this question raised by a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine. More
A telehealth company's downfall sheds light on the overprescription of stimulants to ADHD patients More
Last year, the Lown Institute, a nonprofit healthcare think tank based in Needham, Massachusetts, reported that hospitals performed more than 1 million unnecessary tests and procedures on Medicare patients from 2016 to 2018. Unnecessary tests and procedures can put patients at risk of complications and drive up the cost of care. More
What's the evidence behind PCI, and why do hospitals keep doing these procedures? We revisit this issue with a look back at research and interviews over last few years to give you the answers. More
Despite the risks posed by COVID-19, hospitals continued to perform eight common, low-value procedures during the first year of the pandemic at a rate similar to 2019, according to a Lown Institute analysis published Tuesday. More
For the ranking, Lown examined service use measures at more than 3,100 hospitals. Data in the ranking came from the Medicare claims database and spanned 2018 to 2020. Eight common procedures — including hysterectomy for benign disease, coronary stents for stable heart disease and spinal fusion for low back pain — were measured. Four tests were also considered. Hospitals with the capacity to do four or more of the services were ranked. More
U.S. hospitals performed more than 100,000 surgeries on older patients during the first year of the pandemic, according to a new Lown Institute analysis. The healthcare think tank relied on Medicare claims data and analyzed eight common low-value procedures. It called the 100,000 procedures unnecessary and potentially harmful in a press release. It found that between March and December 2020, among the most-performed surgeries were coronary stents and back surgeries. More
In the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, did hospitals curb unnecessary and potentially harmful services? Watch the video of the roundtable discussion on overuse during Covid-19 to find out! More