Chiquita Brooks-LaSure has won U.S. Senate confirmation and will become the first black woman to lead the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or CMS. The longtime government official, who was an adviser to President Obama and has served in multiple other top federal roles (shown right, with her boss, Health and Human Services….
Continue ReadingArchives for May 2021
Hospitals rip patients with draconian debt collection and costly parking fees
Big hospitals and health systems seem to have a knack for kicking patients when they’re already down, as recent news stories suggest, reporting on how they gouge the sick and injured in ways small (parking fees that add up) and big (draconian medical-debt collection campaigns). How do the suits that run hospitals come up with….
Continue ReadingBig Pharma, battling over sky-high prices, called out on big fib on R&D costs
Virginia Ob-gyn sentenced to 59 years in prison for harming patients and ripping off insurers
A 70-year-old obstetrician-gynecologist likely will spend the rest of his life in jail. A federal judge sentenced Dr. Javaid Perwaiz to 59 years’ imprisonment for a decade-long spree of enriching himself by practicing costly, unneeded, and harmful medicine on women in the Hampton Roads, Virginia, area. As the Washington Post reported of the heinous acts….
Continue ReadingIn the rush to return to normality, reasons abound why it just doesn’t feel that great
These are exhilarating times for optimists about the coronavirus pandemic, what with cases finally dropping to lows not seen in months, hospitalizations in major decline, and deaths falling sharply. Public health measures targeted to protect people from infection are lifting, pronto, and the nation is opening apace. Normality, however, isn’t exactly rushing in. And the….
Continue Reading‘The Crime of the Century’ documents our lethal opioid tragedy
When accomplished folks who have racked up awards like Oscars, Emmys, and Pulitzers provide their frank appraisal of the roles of Big Pharma, federal regulators, and law enforcement in the opioid abuse and drug overdose epidemic, they don’t mince words. Just consider the title of their new, four-hour, two-part documentary running on HBO: “The Crime….
Continue ReadingD.C. will spend $10 million to battle increasing traffic injuries and deaths
Lead-footed and careless drivers — already a menace nationwide — have become a new, $10 million target for authorities in the nation’s capital. Muriel Bowser, the mayor of the District of Columbia (shown right, in her news conference), says she is “troubled by the significant increase in the number of fatalities that we have experienced….
Continue ReadingInvestigators rip University of Michigan for failing to halt decades of sexual abuse of young men
Big Blue has hundreds of reasons to be red-faced about a 240-page, independent inquiry that offers disturbing, black-and-white evidence that ought to be heeded by higher educational institutions nationwide: Young men can be sexually preyed upon by doctors, too. The University of Michigan, in fact, ignored four decades of exploitative and abusive conduct by Robert….
Continue ReadingEasing of public health guidelines signals big progress in quelling pandemic
Let’s say “WoW” for those coronavirus vaccines. Federal officials have given emergency approval for their use now in kids as young as 12. And parents are racing to get their youngsters vaccinated, not only against Covid but also other infectious diseases that put children at risk. The steady increase in vaccinations — which 59% of….
Continue ReadingAll U.S. patients need a primary care doctor, panel of top experts recommends
The U.S. health system is in dire need of dramatic reforms to put patients first, most notably by ensuring that everyone in this country has a formally designated primary care physician to help monitor, navigate, and oversee their medical treatment. That is the latest recommendation of yet another blue-chip experts’ group: the National Academies of….
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