The Baltimore Sun notes that after a landmark 2007 study in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded that stents were often not beneficial, enthusiasm waned. Thats a huge difference to those of us who live with heart disease. Pat Upasna Sharma (photo by C. Lagattuta) Upasna Sharma, assistant professor of molecular, cell, and developmental biology at UC Santa Cruz, has received a $1.18 health. WebDr. I felt relief., Although this patient, 66-year-old Peggy Lambdin, later received a letter indicating that her coronary artery was less than 50 percent blocked (clinically meaningless and not an indication for stenting), she was unfazed, Wachter observes. Both said that they could not make money if they had to take Medicare rates from all comers even if there were no uncompensated care. He has authored over 350 articles, 420 abstracts, 15 book chapters and three books to his credit. Dr. Sharma has developed a state of the art Heart Hospital (Eternal Heart Care Center, EHCC) in his native place Jaipur, India, which provides excellent care to all kinds of patients, including underprivileged and those living below the poverty level. In addition, of course, doctors are subject to investigation and censure by their hospitals, potentially leading to loss of privileges (the right to work in the hospital) or other lesser sanctions, and by state medical boards, potentially leading to loss of license or other lesser sanctions. Privacy Policy Sharecare, Editorial This is pretty much what happened in one notorious case,that of Shasta Regional Medical Center in the small town ofRedding, California. rainmakers and this includes doctors who bring in revenues by doing too many surgeries (even when Part of the problem is that in these cases, the doctor may well have thought that he was helping the patients. 2. The lists include officers, trustees, directors and employees reported by each institution. I was put on maximum medical therapy after the surgery and have been on it ever since. Chest discomfort, especially if it occurs at rest and not during or shortly after eating is not only stressful, it can be perceived as life threatening. and slowing the progression of psoriatic arthritis, Back (You will find the abstract here) Following a two-year study, researchers at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles are now suggesting that the putative superiority of drug-coated stents is founded on questionable premises. Or as The Wall Street Journal put it, the clinical trials of drug-coated stents (mostly funded by manufacturers), may have exaggerated their real-life advantage. [Dr. Midei was using a new generation of drug-coated stents.]. . Finally, as I reported earlier this year, a more proactive Food & Drug Administration has announced that it plans to begin requiring drug makers and device makers to disclose details about their clinical trialsproviding detail on their failures as well as their successes. Menu, Health a See more on Sharecare. Click on Contact Maggie on the blogs home page. Titles reflect positions held in 2018. Medication doesnt work as rapidly. Ordinarily, though doctors are not imprisoned for malprctice because society acknowledges that we all are human and even the very best doctors make mistakes. Yes, the Redding story eptiomizes what has been happening. Yet the odds that the bleeding-edge therapy represents an improvement over existing technology are only about 50/50. WebDr. In September, federal prosecutors accused a cardiologist in Salisbury, Md., of performing unnecessary stent surgeries, and last year a Louisiana doctor was sentenced to 10 years in prison for inserting unneeded stents. He performs angioplasty at New York's Mount Sinai Medical He left the system in 2019. Maggie Back in June of 2006, a few months before I began HealthBeat, I wrote a post about our use of stents for The Health Care Blog. A doctor who knowingly performs unnecessary surgery or hospializes patients who dont need to be hospitalized is bilking the insurer while harming the patient, and can go to jail. Omix, Health The most spectacular was the case of retrolental fibroplasia causing blindness in infants who had been given too high of levels of oxygen in intensive care nurseries, usually because of prematurity. It is a good example of the problem of accidentally creating disease by the doctor boxing themselves in with testing that was not needed in the first place. Please contact the office to determine whether you are eligible. The average salary for a physician is $185,515 per year in California. In Massachusetts, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, which owns about 45 percent of the private insurance market in the state, already has moved to a combination of capitation and bonuses for higher quality care. If clearly unnecessary procedures are being done, especially when claiming that a blockage is much greater than the film shows it to be, the consequences for the doctor should be swift and severe including prosecution for fraud and, possibly, loss of his medical license. Samin Sharma, MD is a Cardiologist. . For example, the Sun reports, "Dr. Mideis [use of stents] increased, by his own estimate, 50 percent, to about 1,200 a year., As for Mt. Pat didnt say that asymptomiatic patients undergo stent procedures. Nevertheless, as the Center for Medical Consumers reported in 2006: The number of people undergoing artery-opening procedures continues to rise not only because they are huge money-makers , but they are also very effective at relieving the severe chest pain of angina, which is a common symptom of heart disease. Patients like the quick fix of the stent treatment for angina. It makes perfect sense. According to the Sun: The 2007 study didnt find that stents are worthless, just that not implanting a stent can often be as good and avoids the real risks of complications or even death from the procedure. To be included, individuals must have been employed at a tax-exempt organization that filed a Form 990 for 2018. Pat S. and treating Crohns disease, You Dr. Samin Sharma, MD is a cardiology specialist in New York, NY. VA The Individual Mandate: Has the Obama Administration Silently Repealed the Rule that Virtually Everyone Must Have Health Insurance? He has more than 100 publications and over 500 citings. are more than atopic dermatitis, Understanding To arrange an appointment, call the number on Dr. Sharma's profile. In 2005 THCB questioned the cost-effectiveness of the new, improved drug-coated stents that are designed to prevent the growth of scar tissue inside the artery. Zones Project, Find Sharma wanted to let Dr. Sharma provides telehealth services. Copyright 2020. BCBS pays contracting groups of doctors to provide all care, including inpatient services, for its members. This is becuase many surgeons prefer to operate in the morning, and if these surgeons bring in business, hospital administrators do their best to please them. & consultants, Life a doctor, Find Samin Sharma, MD, is a specialist in internal medicine who treats patients in San Antonio, TX. C, Type and immunizations, Lung Dr Samin Sharma Family Foundation is a private foundation in Scarsdale, NY, which was founded in 2004 and most recently had $1 in revenue and no employees. The rest of the complicated motives behind this, ranging from the desire of their hospitals to keep expensive equipment paying for itself to personal prestige to the financial rewards to the feeling that if they dont do something they might be sued all enter into the mix, but the first is the main thing. | I interviewed some of the victims of Redding when I wrote Money-Driven Medicne. arthritis, Type doing too much, they make mistakes. Medication and change of diet, on the other hand, is much more likley to lead to long-term relief from angina. By the end of 2006 the hospital's total patient revenues had grown 41%, to $1.2 billion. Wall Street likes them too. Since 2007 Study, Use of Stents Has Dropped, but Many Remain Undaunted, Not everyone has ignored the research. As a result, we pay moreand moreand moreas drug makers and device-makers flood the market with new, improved products., In Money-Driven Medicine: The Real Reason Health Care Costs so Much, I quote Kaiser Permanente CEO George Halverson who points out that few modern researchers are willing to risk betting their own money on their newest products or procedures. With regard to the studies that claim to show that there is no benefit from stents regarding either life expectancy or preventing future heart attacks or strokes, they dont speak to the quality of life implications of reduced chest discomfort. At $2300 a pop (vs. a mere $700 for the uncoated, bare-metal variety), the newer stents are far more profitable. WebDr. Under the Affordable Care Act doctors who create a medical home also will be rewarded if they are able to keep their patients healthy and out of the hospital, while avoiding invasive treatments. Your story is a good example of why anecdotal results dont mean much. . and I dont understand why and under what circumstances asymptomatic patients would ever be sent to the cath lab in the first place. health, Hepatitis Because physicians insurance participation can change, the insurance information on this page may not always be up-to-date. You can find other locations and directions on Sharecare. As you know, a profit margin turns on the cost of operations. Im not an attorney, so I dont know whether a prosectuor has These days Dr. Sharma is one of the U.S.' leading cardiac surgeons, earning more than $1 million a year. 4. In addition to coronary interventions, Dr. Sharma specializes in the non-surgical treatment of mitral and aortic stenosis and transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). At Lourdes, there were rumors for years that one of its surgeons, a Dr. Mehmood Patel, was performing vast amounts of unnecessary heart operations. This is why they paid him those bonuses to shepherd unwitting patients to their cath-lab where doctors can diagnose heart attacks, and quickly open arteries. A well-trained internist can take care of the lions share of people with coronary heart disease. In the meantime, simply releasing payment information would help the press and public target such excess, as the WSJ piece on prostate care indicates. Sharma has built a 250-bed heart hospital (EHCC) in his native Jaipur, India to provide the best care to all patients irrespective of their financial and social status. Ideally, the nations paper of record would launch an investigation by looking into the use of stents in its own backyardManhattan. In fact, in most stent patients the stent most likely is responsible for the pain effects for only a fairly short time, at which point the maximal medical therapy they are almost always on as well takes over and carries most if not all of the weight. Finallyand I am afraid this is a major reason a great many hospital CEOs protect their Medicare wants to put hospitals under some fianncial pressure because MedPAC reserach shows that when hospitals are under financial pressure, they learn to become more efficientand, in fact, beginning making a profit on those Medicare reimbursements. 8300 Floyd Curl Dr Fl 4, San Antonio, TX 78229 (210) 450-9800. A more practical reason is that doctors are concerned about being sued if they try to .The Texas Medical Board last month accused a widely known cardiologist in Austin of inserting unnecessary stents. I would love to see the Times expand on these comments by exploring the larger national problem. If a colleague tries to bring this to the attention of the administration, "Cash compensation" includes base compensation, bonus and incentive compensation, and other reportable compensation from the hospital and related organizations. a Barry health, Digestive he may find himself in trouble. (Medicare Advantage insures will be pushing back, refusing to overpay drugmakers, hospitals, etc.) to prove intent, or whether there are cases where criminal negligence could put a doctor in jail. Certainly, hospital executive knew that they were making handsome profits on Mideis stent procedures. While trimming costs, Davis also decided to build up practices in high-margin specialties. If the docs in other countries perceive, correctly, that, as a practical matter, they are unlikely to ever be sued, even if the screening results are positive, the patient may not be sent to the cath lab if he/she is non-symptomatic or has stable angina. Court findings of fraud or willful negligence also expose the doctor to potential punitive financial damages, in addition to the usual compensatory damages. Under reform, accountability is likely to extend beyond the individual patient-doctor relationship. May 25, 2021Pulse Extra is available every Tuesday. He currently practices at Mount Sinai Cardiology Assocs in New York, NY. See more patient feedback on Sharecare. Dr. Sharma received the Governors Award of Excellence (2006), for his outstanding contribution to Medicine. NO other profession injures & kills more citizens unnecessarily; 2. * Please verify this information when scheduling an appointment. This edition of Pulse Extra highlights the highest-paid people working for hospitals and health systems in 2019. equity, Investor In gratitude, the hospital pampered them with department chairmanships and perks. In 2009, Medicare paid just $3.5 billion for stent procedures nationwide, down from about $5 billion a year before the 2007 study was released. . (We need better laws protecting whistle-blowers). All, About Over the weekend, the New York Times published a head-turning tale about Dr. Mark Midei, a star cardiologist at St. Joseph Medical Center in Townson, Maryland. That hazingwhich includes being humiliated by people who are supposed to be whilst Im enthusiastic about CMS moving toward capitation, Im not holding my breath. This provider has 21 years of experience and is affiliated with Catholic Dr. Samir Sharma, MD, is an Orthopedic Surgery specialist in Campbell, California. Physicians and hospitals that work togetherand are paid as a teamwill become accountable for each other. Thanks for the explanation of how non-symptomatic patients wind up in a cath lab. At the same time, they could lead to even greater concentration of market power which could result in healthcare costs even greater than they would have been under fee for service even with global payments, bundled payments for surgical procedures or partial capitation. I have been researching, investigating, speaking & writing on the ugly reality of physician misbehavior for more than a decade. Dr. Sharma is board certified in Cardiology. I wonder if you might want to write a guest post about this? As Director of Interventional Cardiology, Dr. Sharma oversees all Health System catheterization laboratories to maintain the highest level of care. Dr. Sharma, his family, and other generous donors helped the Foundation reach its $5 million endowment, funding that will help support the labs clinical, research, and educational initiatives. But some do set out to over-charge insurers, Medicare or Medicaid, and sometimes the patient suffers the collateral damage. When a product is very profitable, it is promoted to the skiesand, in such cases manufacturers tend to put the very best face on their clinical research. Steamed Veggies or Raw Veggies for Healthy Cholesterol? Search, Log patients guide to managing ankylosing spondylitis, Managing He probably followed all the protocols mandated by accreditors and the relevant specialty societies. 954 salaries reported, updated at April 25, 2023 Very sad stories. 6- In March 2020 Ghandi was appointed chief financial officer of the health system. There will be incentives to join Accountable Care Organizations where doctors or doctors and hospitals work together, and all share in the financial rewards if they are able to avoid waste. The main issue, in truth, is probably that the doctors believes that they are doing the right thing, based on their grasp of the science and their personal feelings about what they are doing, possibly influenced by personally not having kept up on the science and by the continued insistence of academic doctors with career stakes and of reps from supply, equipment, and drug companies that the evidence against the procedures are flawed, incomplete, or dont apply to a brilliant person like themselves who gets far better results than the people at institutions where the research is done . He put two stents in almost immediately, said one grateful patient. Cases like this one are terribly troubling, he continues, not just because they harm individual patients but because they do violence to the trust that is so fundamental to the physician-patient relationship. Health information on this site is not meant to be used to diagnose or treat conditions. Meanwhile, just last fall, Dr. Eric Topol, chairman of the cardiology department at the Cleveland Clinic, warned Consumer Reports: Unfortunately, the extensive use of such stents is far ahead of the data that can be cited to support them.. Intent is very important. Oh, and by the way, it pays well too. . Dr. Sharma also has passion for teaching and training fellows who enjoy learning from his expertise, so much so they awarded him the Simon Dack Best Teacher in the Division of Cardiology in 2000 and Cardiology Fellows Appreciation Award in 2009. . See more on Sharecare. This provider has not specified a telehealth appointment method. It is true that people with angina often get faster relief from stents than medical treatment, but it is also true that medical treatment is usually successful at providing relief from angina after a short interval, an interval that can usually be bridged successfully with use of morphine and nitrates. Just one example: they have three or four ORs that are all very busy during the morning and more or less empty in the afternoon. Sharecare, Editorial As for hospital CEOs at overpaid hospitals in NYC and PIttsburgh who tell you they couldnt surive on Medicare paymtents? (caps added to no for empnasis.). He currently practices at The Lauder In practice, this is rarely invoked except in cases involving falsifying records after the fact, perjury, and other similar things, but in theory it could be in some cases. He has authored over 350 articles, 420 abstracts, 15 book chapters and three books to his credit. If a second doctor must sign off on the reading, this could stop a serial stenter in his tracks. This is the usual complicated stew of motives for performing tests and procedures that are not scientifically warrented. That lesson influenced a lot of doctors from my generation, who saw all this happen early in our careers, but lessons that dont quite fit with personal ego and ambition have a tendency to be forgotten after a while, especially by younger people who did not see the events first hand. Sign up here to receive e-mails alerting you when she has published new posts. Non-symptomatic patients end up in cath lab because of results of other tests ecg, stress ecg, nuclear cardiology, lab tests, and these days especially coronary artery CT. WebDR SAMIN SHARMA FAMILY FOUNDATION is a tax-exempt organization filed with Internal Revenue Service (IRS). If you are using Internet Explorer, please consider upgrading to a modern browser. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid is determined to move away from fee- for service payment because we know that inevitably, it leads to more procedures, yet earlier this year, the Commonwealth Fund reported that physicians and industry leaders [feel] that cost reductions of 20 percent to 30 percent are achievable under well-constructed global payment models which pay doctors a lump sum to keep patients well. Cardiologists dont perform caths on desert islands they are assisted by cath techs and nurses. A small group of unfortunate pediatricians who had been somewhat behind the curve on the issue ended up being sued by the children when they reached adulthood, 18 to 21 years later. Nephrology (Kidney) - Medical Arts & Research Center - MARC 210-450-9650; If you're a patient of Samin Sharma, Being, Community Just to clarify Fellowship, Cardiology, City Hospital Center at Elmhurst, 2007Mount Sinai Physician of the Year Award, 2002Zena and Michael A. Wiener Professor of Medicine, 2000Simon Dack Award for Best Teacher at Cardiovascular Institute. Terms and Conditions, Innovative Collaborations Enhancing Education and Care, Link to Innovation in Science and Medicine, Link to Innovative Collaborations Enhancing Education and Care, Cardiology (Heart), Cardiovascular Disease (Heart Disease), Klingenstein Clinical Center Floor 6th Floor Room 6N-665, Mount Sinai Center for Vaccine Research and Pandemic Preparedness, Converting Discoveries to Clinical Treatment, SENIOR VICE-PRESIDENT, OPERATIONS & QUALITY, MOUNT SINAI HEART, DIRECTOR, INTERVENTIONAL CARDIOLOGY, MOUNT SINAI HEALTH SYSTEM, ANANDI LAL SHARMA PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE (CARDIOLOGY), Eternal Heart Care Centre and Research Institute Private Limited (EHCRI), Abbott Laboratories;Boston Scientific Corporation;Cardiovascular Systems, Inc. (CSI);Miscellaneous Teaching and Lectures at Academic Institutions. Barry According to federal investigators, Dr. Midei implanted potentially dangerous cardiac stents in the arteries of as many as 585 patients who didnt need them. Sharma served on the Cardiac Advisory Board of New York State from 2004-2016, which advises the Health Department and the Governor on issues of health policies and supervision, safety, and appropriateness of heart care by various hospitals in New York. Under Dr. Sharmas leadership, The Mount Sinai Hospital Cardiac Cath Lab has become one of the best and busiest centers in New York, providing state-of-the-art cardiac and interventional care for all types of simple and complex heart patients. Samin Sharma received his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) from the B.P. center, Health Since they were approved in the early 1990s, manufacturers have made a fortune peddling the devices which, they say, can prevent a future heart attack while avoiding riskier and more invasive bypass surgery. In this new role within Mount Sinai Heart, Dr. Sharma will further enhance clinical care, operations, innovation, education, and clinical research. I am very thankful to the leadership of Mount Sinai for giving me the chance to further enhance the clinical operations and network of Mount Sinai Heart, says Dr. Sharma.
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