10 healthcare names get Shkreli Awards for bad behavior
By Admin | January 07, 2025
Ten individuals, groups, practices and organizations are recognized in the name of a "pharma bro" with the release of Lown Institute's Shkreli Awards.
The 8th Annual list contains the "most egregious examples of profiteering and dysfunction in healthcare," decided by a panel of 20 judges who are patient activists, clinicians, health policy experts and journalists. The awards are organized by Lown Institute, a nonpartisan think tank that measures hospitals' and health systems' social responsibility.
Martin Shkreli earned the nickname of pharma bro when, in 2015, his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, acquired a 62-year-old drug called Daraprim and, overnight, increased the price from about $13.50 per pill to $750. In 2017, he was convicted in federal court on two counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiring to commit securities fraud, resulting in a 2018 sentence of seven years in prison. In 2022, a federal judge ordered Mr. Shkreli to repay $64 million for hiking the price of Daraprim and imposed a permanent ban on his executive roles in public companies and a lifetime ban from the pharmaceutical industry. He was released early from prison that same year.
Lown Institute's awardees were covered by local or national news outlets throughout 2023 and 2024. While most media coverage of the people, institutions, trends or allegations is dated in 2024, some of the actions in question date further back. The original news stories, all linked below, have more complete details.
Below are the recipients of the 2024 Shkreli Award, as decided by the Lown Institute.
1. Former Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre, MD. Lown Institute awarded Dr. de la Torre the top spot for bad behavior in 2024, which was the demise of Dallas-based Steward Health Care. The for-profit chain was on a buying spree in...(More)
For more info please read, 10 healthcare names get Shkreli Awards for bad behavior, by Becker's Hospital Review
10 healthcare names get Shkreli Awards for bad behavior
By Admin | January 10, 2023
No one in healthcare aspires to win an award named after a "pharma bro."
But that's exactly where 10 individuals and organizations find themselves with the release of Lown Institute's 6th Annual Shkreli Awards. The list contains the "worst examples of profiteering and dysfunction in healthcare" ultimately decided by a panel of 18 judges who are patient activists, clinicians, health policy experts and journalists. The awards and vetting system are organized by Lown Institute, a nonpartisan think tank that measures hospitals' and health systems' social responsibility.
Martin Shkreli earned the nickname of pharma bro when, in 2015, his company Turing Pharmaceuticals acquired a 62-year-old drug called Daraprim and, overnight, increased the price from about $13.50 per pill to $750. In 2017, Mr. Shkreli was convicted in federal court on two counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiring to commit securities fraud, resulting in a 2018 sentence of seven years in prison. In 2022, a federal judge ordered Mr. Shkreli to pay $64 million for hiking the price of Daraprim and permanently banned him from serving as an executive or director at a public company in addition to a lifetime ban from the pharmaceutical industry.
"If we're ever going to get to the great health system that Americans deserve, we have to call out bad behavior," Vikas Saini, MD, president of the Lown Institute, said. "The Shkreli Awards are a mirror that's hard to look into, but we've got to do it."
Below are the recipients of the 2022 Shkreli Award, as decided by the Lown Institute.
1. Insurers that systematically manipulate Medicare Advantage. The majority of large Medicare Advantage insurers face accusations of fraud or overbilling by the U.S. government, resulting in alleged overpayments estimated to cost taxpayers up to $25 billion in 2020, The New York Times reported in October 2022. Of the top 10 Medicare Advantage providers by market share, the following have been accused of fraud or overbilling by...(More)
For more info please read, 10 healthcare names get Shkreli Awards for bad behavior, by Becker's Hospital Review
