Transparency International US Corruption Barometer: Striking Increases in Public Perceptions of Government Corruption in the US, Especially in the White House

Introduction: Transparency International's 2017 Global Corruption Barometer US Results

Last month, Transparency International (TI) released the results of its 2017 US Corruption Barometer, a global survey of peoples' perceptions of the degree to which their national institutions are corrupt.  We discussed the results from the US, based on data collected in late 2016, which showed that


the US

Heads They Win, Tails We Lose - Non-Profit Hospital Executives Paid Generously After They Were Shown the Door

On Health Care Renewal, we have been decrying American health care dysfunction since 2004.  For years, the US consistently has had the most expensive health care system of any developed country.  For that exhorbitant price, it provides at best medicocre access to and quality of care.  The latest (2017) international comparison of health systems produced by the Commonwealth Fund shows that the US

One Barely Noticed Settlement by Pfizer Suggests the Futility of Polite Protests about Health Policy

A few days ago we noticed just one more marcher in the parade of legal settlements.  But it was once again a huge health care corporation, and it had aspects that demanded attention.

Pfizer Makes $94 Million Settlement of Allegations of Fraud to Delay Generic Competition


A tiny item in Becker's Hospital News on November 28, 2017, stated:


Pfizer will pay $94 million to resolve allegations

In US, More than One-Third Think Government and Business Leaders are Corrupt, Media Shrug

We have noted  (most recently here), 
that health care corruption, particularly its global nature and its
presence in developed countries like the US, is a taboo topic and thus
remains anechoic.  Yet corruption in general, and health care corruption in particular, are huge global problems.

Transparency International just released the full results of the 2017 version of its Global Corruption

Perpetual Revolving Motion: Yet More Transits Through the Health Care Revolving Door

The pace of people spinning through the US federal revolving door seems unprecedented. 




Most were people going from the health care corporations to government
positions regulating or making policy influencing those same
corporations.  Since our last roundup, of 11 days ago, we have found two
more significant travelers from industry to government, and one from
the previous administration

Give Us Those Old Time Conflcts of Interest: Stephen Parente, Key Opinion Leader for UnitedHealth and Redeemer of Former CEO William McGuire to Assistant Secretary of HHS

This latest revolving door case echoes scandals of long ago.

Background: CEO Dr William McGuire and the UnitedHealth Affair

A long time ago,in a galaxy far, far away, actually, from 2006 through 2008, we posted frequently about shenanigans at huge for-profit health insurance/ managed care company UnitedHealth.  We often discussed the patient-unfriendliness of its policies and processes (look

The Ultimate Version of Ill-Informed Health Care Leadership: Dumb, Incoherent, Confused, Perhaps Psychotic Things President Trump Says and Does About Health Care Policy

The controversy over the Affordable Care Act, aka "Obamacare," still goes on in the US.  The ACA, which is still the law of the land after congressional Republicans made attempts to repeal and replace it, was meant to increase access to health care by increasing access to health care insurance without disturbing the current US reliance on private, mostly for-profit health insurance companies It

Worst Health Care Revolving Door Case So Far, Version 2.0? - From President of Lilly USA to US Secretary of Health and Human Services?

Last week, we discussed what appeared to be the most egregious case of the health care revolving door seen so far.  A health care corporate lobbyist without any direct medical, health care, public health or biomedical science experience was named Acting US Secretary of Health and Human Services after being confirmed as Deputy Secretary.


Former Top Executive of Pharmaceutical Company Eli Lilly

Worst Health Care Revolving Door Case So Far? - From Lobbyist to Acting Secretary of Department of Health and Human Services

Once again, you just cannot make this stuff up.

Last week we posted our latest revolving door roundup, one of many we have done during the Trump administration.  At the time we noted that a lobbyist, Mr Eric D Hargan, at Greenberg Taurig Alston & Bird, had been nominated to be Deputy Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

Wikepedia provides a little more information

Round and Round It Spins - Our Latest Health Care Revolving Door Roundup

Sorry about the bad pun.  We have accumulated a remarkable number of stories of people transiting the revolving door from working for health care corporations in various but important capacities to positions in health care policy or regulation for the Trump administration.  These stories may not always appear in the most prominent places, but their accumulation suggests they should be of

Latest Legal Settlements Suggest Hazards of Making Pharmaceutical Regulation More Lenient, as is Apparently Favored by New FDA Leader

The new US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner Dr Scott Gottlieb is promoting making the agency's mechanisms to approve new drugs more lenient, according to the Cardiobrief blog.  Blogger Larry Husten wrote:


Gottlieb’s entire career has centered on loosening regulatory restrictions to enable industry to thrive. At the core of his philosophy is the view that with fewer restrictions

More Dumb Things Leaders Say About Health Policy

These days, legislative efforts to change US health care, especially to "reform and replace" the Affordable Care Act [ACA or "Obamacare"] seem to inspire displays of jaw dropping ignorance by political and sometimes business leaders on behalf of "reforming" health care.  We last posted examples on July 7, 2017.  Now there is a new game afoot to reform and replace, and it is generating new - not

"The Censorship That It is" - Now Threatens US Government Health Agencies (DHHS, CMS, CDC)

On Health Care Renewal we discus the dark side of health care, particularly of the leadership and governance of health care, that has enabled health care dysfunction.  Our discussions are based on publicly available information, often produced by dogged health care journalism.

Uur work has become more difficult as journalism is challenged by economic circumstances.  Yet now there are worse

The Shame of US Health Care Dysfunction: Hookworm Returns to Alabama

An article just published online(1), and reported so far in only one major media outlet (the Guardian, based in the UK) showed how hookworm, now considered a disease of poor, third world countries, has returned to the American south.  This in a country which spends more per capita on health care than any other supposedly developed country.

Background - the Supposed Eradication of Hookworm

A

Information technology-naive defense lawyers vs. "strident critic of electronic health records"

A tale from the trenches.

In recent years, as a result of the 2010 IT-related injury and 2011 death of my mother, I have engaged myself as an independent EHR forensic expert regarding evidentiary and patient harm issues in medical malpractice litigation. 

Interestingly and disappointingly, I still often find that hospital attitudes towards health IT safety and information transparency have

Who Guards the Guardians? - From DeVry at a Time of Alleged Fraud to Anti-Fraud Enforcement for the Department of Education

There seems to be another fox ready to guard the already flustered educational, including medical educational hen house.

Dr Julian Schmoke to Lead Student Aid Enforcement Unit

According to Politico on August 30, 2017, the new head of enforcement for the Department of Education will be one Dr Julian Schmoke Jr,


The Trump administration has tapped a former for-profit college official to lead

A Stealth Marketer Goes Through the Revolving Door to ... the President's Council of Economic Advisors?!

Stealthy, deceptive systematic marketing, lobbying, and policy advocacy campaigns on behalf of big health care organizations, often pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies, have long been a subject of Health Care Renewal.  A relatively recently revealed example was the stealth marketing campaign used by GlaxoSmithKline to sell its antidepressant Paxil.  This campaign included