Desperate Patients Encouraged To Take Out Loans, Borrow Money To Pay For Unproven, Risky Stem Cell Treatments
Stem cell clinics have popped up across the country, and they are largely unregulated. More and more patients have been coming forward to speak out about the predatory nature of the industry. News from the health industry also focuses on hospitals suing poor patients, a GE health care unit, and an FBI investigation into Beth Israel's transplant program.
The Washington Post:
Clinic Pitches Unproven Treatments To Desperate Patients, With Tips On Raising The Cash
By the time he called the Lung Health Institute, Ed Garbutt was desperate. The Dallas computer parts salesman could barely walk the length of his house without gasping for breath. Unable to work, Garbutt, 64, was going broke paying for trips to the emergency room. Lung Health Institute staffers were reassuring, Garbutt recalled, telling him that more than 80 percent of their patients with lung disease said they found relief through their stem cell treatments — which would cost him $5,500, thanks to a summer sale. He said they told him that if he didn’t have the money, he could get it other ways, like fundraising on GoFundMe. (Wan and McGinley, 12/1)
NPR/ProPublica:
Why TeamHealth, Owned By Blackstone Group, Stopped Suing Poor Patients
After nine visits to the emergency room at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., in 2016 and 2017, Jennifer Brooks began receiving bills from an entity she'd never heard of, Southeastern Emergency Physicians. Unsure what the bills were for, Brooks, a stay-at-home mother, said she ignored them until they were sent to collections. She made payment arrangements, but when she was late, she said the collection agency demanded $500, which she didn't have. (Thomas, Miller, Raghavendran and Burke, 11/27)
The Wall Street Journal:
GE Pitches Investors On Its Health-Care Unit, A Steady Source Of Cash
General Electric Co. aims to excite investors about its health-care unit, a business that was tagged to be cast off but is now central to the company’s turnaround efforts. GE Healthcare, which is based in Chicago and employs more than 50,000 people, makes magnetic-resonance-imaging machines and other hospital equipment. At the depths of its crisis, GE set plans to spin off the division. Now, Chief Executive Larry Culp refers to it as one of the conglomerate’s pillars. (Gryta, 12/1)
ProPublica:
FBI Investigating Newark Beth Israel’s Transplant Program For Possible Fraud
The FBI is investigating the organ transplant program at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, according to people contacted by the bureau. The bureau is looking into whether the program, which kept a vegetative patient on life support for the sake of boosting its survival rate, attempted to defraud federal insurers Medicare and Medicaid, said one person familiar with the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. (Chen, 11/29)
