Lown Institute

12/15/2025

There's a month left to send in your nomination for the 2026 Bernard Lown Award for Social Responsibility! We're looking for a trailblazing young clinician who is leading the movement for a just and caring healthcare system.

Know someone like this in your community? Nominate them for this prestigious honor by January 15, 2026 @ https://lowninstitute.org/projects/bernard-lown-award-for-social-responsibility/

12/12/2025

The winners of the 2025 Shkreli Awards have been revealed! Who do you think took the #1 spot?

Check out the full list @ https://lowninstitute.org/projects/shkreli-awards/2025-shkreli-awards/ and then share them with your friends and colleagues!

12/11/2025

Today's the day! The 2025 Shkreli Awards kick off at 1 pm!

There's still time to join the fun and find which bad actors will take home the dubious honor of a Shkreli. Grab your virtual seat @ lowninstitute.org/register-the-2025-shkreli-awards/

Previous winners include:

- A doctor who gave chemotherapy to patients who did NOT have cancer
- A $2 billion Medicare scheme to bill for urinary catheters that were neither needed nor received by patients
- A CEO who caused the collapse of multiple hospitals across the nation in his private-equity-backed pursuit of profits over patients

12/09/2025

The 2025 Shkreli's, the Lown Institute’s annual awards show calling out the worst examples of greed and dysfunction in health care, is just days away on Thursday, December 11 at 1 pm!

Grab your virtual seat @ https://lowninstitute.org/register-the-2025-shkreli-awards/ and then join Lown Institute president Dr. Vikas Saini and co-hosts Dr. Bayo Curry-Winchell and 's Eli Rushbanks for all the action!

12/05/2025

We can all agree that healthcare is in a moment of great upheaval. Where things go from here depends on those willing to rethink what's possible, step forward, and lead with purpose.

That's exactly the kind of person that the Bernard Lown Award for Social Responsibility honors and why lifting them up is now more important than ever.

Is there someone in your community who is this kind of leader? Take a moment out of your day to think about it. If the answer is yes, then nominate them for the 2026 BLASR award and its $25,000 prize.

Watch this video to learn more and then submit your nomination before the January 15, 2026 deadline.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9qjMn4sHuk

12/04/2025

Last year's #1 Shkreli award winner was back in the news in 2025 and not for amending his rotten ways. Check out the details below and be sure to reserve virtual seat for this year's show that's only a week away on Thursday, December 11 at 1 pm @ https://lowninstitute.org/register-the-2025-shkreli-awards/

Steward Health Care CEO faces $3B lawsuit

Last year, our #1 Shkreli Award went to Steward Health Care CEO Dr. Ralph de la Torre, whose “leadership” left hospitals gutted, employees laid off, and communities underserved, while he pocketed more than $250 million. Now, it seems that the proverbial chickens have finally come home to roost for de la Torre. According to Becker’s Hospital Review, Steward has filed a lawsuit against their former CEO, claiming that de la Torre and his co-conspirators engaged in insider dealings that stripped the company of assets and helped trigger its financial collapse. Steward intends to pursue more than $3 billion in claims against former creditors, insurers, and insiders who were paid as the system approached bankruptcy.

12/03/2025

The problem of “ghost” networks—when doctors are listed as being in-network for managed care plans, but turn out not to be available—is getting more attention. In our most recent blog post, we dig into recent research and reporting on the topic to understand just how pervasive this problem and what can be done about it.

The problem of “ghost” networks—when doctors are listed as being in-network for managed care plans, but turn out not to be available—is starting to get more attention. Here’s what you need to know from recent research and reporting on the topic.

12/02/2025

There was no rest for the wicked in 2025 for past Shkreli alums - the winners of our annual roast of the most shameless behavior in healthcare. Today, we share an update about a particularly egregious story from Montana. Read on and then grab your virtual seat for this year's show on Thursday, December 11 at 1 pm @ https://lowninstitute.org/register-the-2025-shkreli-awards/

Fired physician’s license reinstated yet again despite patient deaths

Oncologist Dr. Thomas C. Weiner, our #4 Shkreli award in 2024, was back in the news this year. In 2020, he was fired from St. Peter’s Hospital in Helena, MT after a pattern of patient harm and death was brought to light. Nonetheless, the Montana Board of Medical Examiners renewed his license in 2021 and then again 2023. ProPublica, which broke the initial story about Weiner in 2024, reported this February that the board renewed his license for another two years despite the fact that at least 10 questionable deaths were tied to his practice. Criminal investigators with the Montana Department of Justice have since opened a formal investigation into the matter.

12/01/2025

We're thrilled to announce Eli Rushbanks, General Counsel and Director of Policy & Advocacy at , as our second guest host of the 2025 Shkreli's, the Lown Institute’s annual award show calling out the worst examples of greed and dysfunction in health care!

Eli is an attorney who works at the intersection of medical debt and consumer protection. At Dollar For, a patient advocacy non-profit that helps patients apply for hospital financial assistance, he works with patients, advocacy groups, lawyers, state and federal regulators, and hospital leaders to improve patient access to and experience with financial assistance. He helped build Dollar For from the ground up which, so far, has helped relieve over $80 million in debt for nearly 30,000 patients.
His work has been featured in publications such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and NPR. His reports on charity care policy have been cited by the CFPB and have been the basis for class action lawsuits for charity care violations.

Grab your virtual seat and join Eli at this year's Shkreli awards on Thursday, December 11 at 1pm (ET)!

Don't wait! Register @ https://lowninstitute.org/register-the-2025-shkreli-awards/

11/26/2025

2025 was a busy year for past Shkreli alums - the winners of our annual roast of the most shameless behavior in healthcare. Read on and then grab your virtual seat for this year's show on Thursday, December 11 at 1 pm @ https://lowninstitute.org/register-the-2025-shkreli-awards/

NYC hospitals slapped with $1B civil suits for failing to stop doc’s assaults

In 2023, our #1 Shkreli award went to OB-GYN Robert Hadden who, for decades, had sexually assaulted hundreds of patients at some of New York City’s most prestigious hospitals with little intervention by hospital administrators. Hadden was ultimately convicted and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison in 2023. This year the AP reported that Columbia University and New York-Presbyterian Hospital have agreed to settle sexual abuse claims by Hadden’s patients to the tune of a $750 million. This brings total civil settlements involving the former doctor to more than $1 billion total.

11/25/2025

Nonprofit hospitals are outliers in the nonprofit world when it comes to executive pay, paying their CEOs on average three times more than most other types of nonprofit organizations. On the highest end, we’ve seen the leaders of big hospital systems make a staggering $30 million+ in a single year.

How do the CEOs of hospital systems in Massachusetts stack up? We took a look at their compensation at large private nonprofit health systems (at least $1 million in total revenue) to find out.

https://lowninstitute.org/hospital-ceo-pay-in-massachusetts-over-four-years-whose-pay-increased-the-most/

How has CEO compensation for large hospital systems in Massachusetts changed over the past few years? We took a look at the latest data to find out.

11/24/2025

We continue to revisit some of the dishonorable alums from past Shkreli awards - our annual roast of the most shameless behavior in healthcare - ahead of this year's show on Thursday, December 11 at 1 pm. Grab your virtual seat @ https://lowninstitute.org/register-the-2025-shkreli-awards/

Harvard on the hook for black market sales of donor organs

In a ghoulish but true story that earned a 2023 Shkreli dishonorable mention, the former manager of the morgue at Harvard Medical School was accused in a federal indictment of stealing body parts taken from donated cadavers and then selling them on the black market. This year, Reuters reported that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that, despite Harvard’s claim of immunity from liability under Massachusetts’ Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, the university can be sued by families of those whose bodies were donated to the school and then sold. In its decision, the court wrote that Harvard was negligent in its oversight of the morgue and allowed the manager’s “horrific and undignified treatment (to) continue for years.”