Charles Ornstein

The Perils Of Problematic Prescribing: A Double Dose Of Warnings

Two new reports from the CDC show the dangers of overprescribing narcotics and antibiotics. Is there a way for doctors and consumers to make better decisions?

Charles Ornstein
By Charles Ornstein

Twice this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has pointed to the harm caused by aberrant and inappropriate prescribing by physicians. First, the CDC reported Monday that doctors are a primary source of narcotic painkillers for chronic abusers at the highest risk of overdoses.  Physicians edged out even family, friends and drug

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GlaxoSmithKline To Quit Paying Doctors For Promotional Talks

The company will no longer hire doctors to promote its drugs and will stop tying drug rep pay to number of prescriptions written.

Charles Ornstein
By Charles Ornstein

In a major departure from industry practice, GlaxoSmithKline, the sixth-largest global drug maker, announced Tuesday that it will no longer hire doctors to promote its drugs. The company also will stop tying compensation for sales representatives to the number of prescriptions written for drugs they market. The changes will be made worldwide

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Payment Due: The Obamacare Deadline No One Is Talking About

Nearly 365,000 Americans had signed up for private health insurance under Obamacare. But how many will pay their first monthly premium on time?

Charles Ornstein
By Charles Ornstein

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced this morning that nearly 365,000 Americans had signed up for private health insurance under Obamacare. The vast majority came from 14 states running their own insurance exchanges, while 137,000 came by way of HealthCare.gov, the much-faulted federal Web site that handles enrollment for the

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HealthCare.gov’s Mysterious New Number: ‘834’

If insurance companies get incorrect data, their future customers may not be enrolled properly.

Charles Ornstein
By Charles Ornstein

Now that the front-end of HealthCare.gov appears to be working properly, the media’s focus is quickly shifting to the back-end systems that are supposed to provide insurance companies with accurate information about consumers enrolling in their plans. The issue is an important one because if insurance companies get incorrect data, their future

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Loyal Obama Supporters, Canceled by Obamacare

A couple who advocated for Obama’s re-election has solid heath care coverage, but requirements of the Affordable Care Act is taking it away.

Charles Ornstein
By Charles Ornstein

  San Francisco architect Lee Hammack says he and his wife, JoEllen Brothers, are “cradle Democrats.” They have donated to the liberal group Organizing for America and worked the phone banks a year ago for President Obama’s re-election. Since 1995, Hammack and Brothers have received their health coverage from Kaiser Permanente, where

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High-Prescribing Chicago Psychiatrist Faces Federal Fraud Suit

by Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois filed a federal fraud lawsuit today against a Chicago psychiatrist profiled by ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune in 2009 for his excessive prescribing of antipsychotic drugs to nursing home patients. In a news release, the government says that Dr. Michael Reinstein “received illegal kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies […]

Charles Ornstein
By Charles Ornstein
Pills are scPills are scattered across a surface in this Jan. 8, 2011 photo. (Photo by bradleypjohnson via Flickr)

by Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois filed a federal fraud lawsuit today against a Chicago psychiatrist profiled by ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune in 2009 for his excessive prescribing of antipsychotic drugs to nursing home patients. In a news release, the government says that Dr.

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New York’s Ongoing Blackout: Hospitals In Lower Manhattan

Long after power is restored from Sandy, the effect of another more-precarious outage is still taking shape: Some of the largest hospitals in lower Manhattan remain shuttered. Other hospitals are scrambling to fill the gap, and concern is rising that the patchwork system can’t last for long. NYU Langone Medical Center and Bellevue Hospital, the […]

Charles Ornstein
By Charles Ornstein
A patient is wheeled to an ambulance in the rain during an evacuation of New York University Tisch Medical, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, in New York. (AP Photo/ John Minchillo)

Long after power is restored from Sandy, the effect of another more-precarious outage is still taking shape: Some of the largest hospitals in lower Manhattan remain shuttered. Other hospitals are scrambling to fill the gap, and concern is rising that the patchwork system can't last for long. NYU Langone Medical Center and Bellevue Hospital, the

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