The 2024 “winners” of the Shkreli Award, which is given annually to the most egregious perpetrators of profiteering and dysfunction within the medical industry, have been announced by the Rown Institute, an independent medical think tank.
Winners are selected by a committee of health policy experts, clinicians, journalists, and advocates. The award is named after Martin Shkreli, the notorious “pharmaceutical bro” who gained international notoriety for raising the price of the life-saving anti-parasitic drug Daraprim by 50 times.
“All these stories paint a picture of a healthcare industry that is in dire need of transformation. 2024 is where healthcare practices take center stage,” said Vikas Saini, director of the Loan Institute, at the ceremony. Ta.
“But winning awards like this every year shows that this is nothing new. I hope.”
This year, No. 10 went to the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth for failing to notify next of kin before selling the body parts of a deceased person.
Even though an NBC News investigation found that the network found it fairly easy to identify and contact families, schools often do not properly collect information from the deceased or their families before dissecting and distributing unclaimed bodies. It turned out that consent had not been obtained.
According to the New York Times, 9th place was given to the outdated practice of cutting babies' tongue ties, which is falsely promoted as a cure for several ailments, from sleep apnea to breastfeeding problems. Continuing.
Zynex Medical, which specializes in nerve stimulators used for pain management, came in eighth place for its questionable billing practices. According to a report in Stat News, patients received the Zynex device with the understanding that the cost would be covered by insurance. Users were then given unsolicited deliveries (often in excessive amounts) of items such as batteries and electrode pads, and were ultimately charged for the charges. Almost 70% of Zynex's $184 million in 2023 revenue will come from batteries and electrode pads, according to the report.
“This is classic overcharging. It's fraud,” said Patricia Kelmer, senior director of the research group US Pirg and a judge on the panel. “Patients feel obligated to pay because they've already received supplies. We see a lot of this type of abuse in the pain management field.”
Seventh place went to Sarah England and her young son Amari Vaca. Two months after open-heart surgery, the 3-month-old child experienced severe breathing difficulties, so doctors at Natividad Medical Center in Salinas, Calif., elected to transport him by ambulance to San Francisco Medical Center. did. Although he recovered, Cigna later determined the service was “not medically necessary.” The family was given a bill for $97,599.
“This is happening everywhere,” Kelmer said. “The insurance denial here is that it should have been a ground ambulance and not a plane, but how would the patient know that? This is a mother who is receiving medical advice from a doctor. is.”
In sixth place was Medicare bulk billing for urinary catheters. In 2023, 450,000 beneficiaries filed catheter bills on their behalf. This represents an 800% increase over the previous year. Just seven suppliers were responsible for $2 billion of these suspicious charges.
In fifth place was Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces, New Mexico (formerly a non-profit turned for-profit), which was accused of refusing cancer treatment to patients and demanding upfront payments even for those with insurance. There is.
ProPublica's expose of a pattern of medical malpractice and suspicious deaths by a once-famous oncologist came in at number four. Dr. Thomas C. Weiner of Helena, Montana, reportedly subjected one patient to unnecessary cancer treatment for more than a decade, among countless other treatments. Shocking revelation.
Amgen's cancer drug Lumaclas received early FDA approval at a daily dose of 960 mg, even though a 240 mg dose was found to be similarly effective with reduced risks of toxicity and side effects. , took 3rd place.
“Pharmaceutical companies have the same motive of making a profit,” Kelmer said. “The healthcare industry is a business, and companies will seek to make the highest profits possible.”
In second place was a giant company called UnitedHealth, which showed how it became the fourth largest company in the United States. United Airlines doctors report being pressured to spend less time with patients and make patients appear as sick as possible through aggressive medical coding tactics.
The top spot in a competitive year comes from Steward Healthcare CEO Ralph de la Torre, who has been accused of putting private equity interests ahead of patient care. His financial plans led to bankruptcies, hospitals were thrown into disarray, employees were laid off, and communities had reduced access to health care.
“We like to say this is our backyard,” Saini said.
“What's going on here has been dangerous for many years. And if we knew that, we have to ask, 'Where are the regulators?' Where are the people who should know better? ”
