Defrauding the federal government has a long and colorful history. The practice dates as far back as the Civil War, when companies tried to foist lame horses, sick mules and even sawdust in place of gunpowder on our troops. So it's time to cue the theme music ... for this roundup (pun absolutely intended) of this past year's notable healthcare frauds.
Policy & Ethics
Models (not those kind) help us understand our world. But the assumptions we make in creating models can lead us astray. Here's a list of six ways the devil is in the details.
The website ProPublica would have you believe that lunches or speaker fees physicians received from Big Pharma are gifts, requiring something in return. But in this holiday season, we should consider the meaning of gifts -- and realize that the current-affairs watchdog is barking up the wrong tree.
There’s an increasing concern among scholars that, in many areas of science, famous published results tend to be impossible to reproduce.
The newfound ability of a watch to detect heart arrhythmias is just one of many forms of algorithmic medicine. That's where computers play an increasing role in identifying problems, and giving medical advice. But algorithms have unique qualities that impact the approval process.
It's been more than obvious that, despite what you hear in the news, it is fentanyl – not Vicodin – that's killing tens of thousands each year. But a new article in National Vital Statistics Reports makes this more than obvious. Just as obvious is the horrible damage caused by deeply-flawed policies in the past five years. Here is the smoking gun.
ProPublica, like a dog with a bone, continues to chew at Memorial Sloan Kettering and what the publication feels is the hospital's conflict of Interest. But it's time to put the bone down and have a more honest discussion. Why is one of the world's greatest hospitals still a ProPublica punching bag?
Instead of paying taxes, non-profit health systems give back to the community. But how much, to which community and who actually benefits is increasingly a divisive issue. Here, the spotlight finds Sutter Health, the seventh largest health system in the United States.
A new JAMA Internal Medicine study claims that those who get wisdom teeth pulled, and are prescribed opioids, are more likely to have problems with the drug down the road. The numbers may look convincing, but the study is a retrospective analysis –– which is the least reliable type because manipulated variables can change the outcome. Was this the case here? Biostatistician and ACSH advisor Dr. Stan Young (left) weighs in. He is not shy.
In what can only be described as a purposeful attempt to damage its own poor reputation even further, PETA's latest campaign is to change our "speciesist" language.
Chinese President Xi and President Trump are trying to hammer out an agreement to stop fentanyl from flooding into the United States. Whatever they come up with may help, but only so much. In this case, organic chemists have more power than presidents. Here's why.
If you're a Chinese citizen, don't irritate the Chinese government. Otherwise, you'll be subject to "re-education" and then possibly deployed as a pawn of the regime. Apparently, the Chinese scientist who gene edited a baby is now learning this lesson the hard way.