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Associated Press
3 hours ago
- Health
- Associated Press
Takeaways from AP's report on financial interests of RFK Jr. adviser who runs wellness platform
ASSOCIATED PRESS (AP) — Calley Means has built a following by railing against the U.S. health system, often hammering on alleged financial conflicts within the medical establishment. Means, a top aide to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was hired as a White House adviser in March. He has used that position to accuse physician groups, federal agencies and government scientists of financial interests that bias their work. Means, however, has his own stake in the sprawling health system. He's the co-founder of an online platform that offers dietary supplements, herbal remedies, exercise equipment, light therapy lamps and other wellness products. The Associated Press found that Means' heated rhetoric against the medical mainstream dovetails with the interests of his company TrueMed, which features vendors who are prominent supporters of Kennedy's 'Make America Healthy Again' movement. Because of his status as a temporary government employee, Means is exempt from publicly disclosing his financial details. The AP reviewed more than two dozen interviews, speeches, articles and podcast appearances by Means both before and after he joined the government. Here are some takeaways from the AP's reporting: Attacking prescription drugs, promoting wellness alternatives Means' company, Truemed, helps users take tax-free money out of their health savings accounts, or HSAs, to spend on things that wouldn't normally qualify as medical expenses, such as meal delivery services and homeopathic products — remedies based on a centuries-old, debunked theory of medicine. As a top messenger for the administration, Means has been promoting a new government report that calls for scaling back prescription drugs for depression, weight loss and other conditions. By criticizing the use of drugs and other rigorously tested products, health experts say Means is furthering the interests of his company, which offers alternatives to traditional medicine. 'It reeks of hypocrisy,' said Dr. Reshma Ramachandran, a health researcher at Yale University. 'In effect, he is representing another industry that is touting nonregulated products and using his platform within the government to financially benefit himself.' In a written statement, Means said his government work has not dealt with matters affecting Truemed and has focused on issues like reforming nutrition programs and pressuring companies to phase out food dyes. 'Pursuing these large-scale MAHA goals to make America healthy has been the sole focus in my government work,' Means said. Undisclosed interests The full extent of Means' potential financial conflicts are unclear because of his status as a special government employee. Unlike presidential appointees and other senior officials, special government employees do not have to leave companies or sell investments that could be impacted by their work. Also, their financial disclosure forms are shielded from public release. 'It's a big problem,' says Richard Painter, former White House ethics lawyer under George W. Bush. 'I think it's a loophole.' Plugging products and business associates While promoting the administration's accomplishments, Means has not shied away from plugging his own brand or those of his business partners. When asked to offer health advice to listeners of a sports podcast, Outkick The Show, in April, Means suggested they read his book 'Good Energy,' which he co-authored with his sister, Dr. Casey Means. He also recommended blood tests sold by Function Health, which provides subscription-based testing for $500 annually. The company was cofounded by Dr. Mark Hyman, a friend of Kennedy and an investor in Truemed, which also offers Hyman's supplements through its platform. Like dietary supplements, the tests marketed by Function Health are not clinically approved by the Food and Drug Administration. 'It ends up favoring these products and services that rest on flimsy grounds, at the expense of products that have actually survived a rigorous FDA approval process,' said Dr. Peter Lurie, a former FDA official who is now president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Steering medical dollars into health savings accounts Means says he has not worked on issues impacting HSAs since joining the federal government. Federal ethics laws forbid government employees from taking part in decisions that could impact their financial situation. But before joining government, Means said the mission of his company 'is to steer medical dollars into flexible spending.' 'I want to get that $4.5 trillion of Medicare, Medicaid, everything into a flexible account,' he told fitness celebrity Jillian Michaels, on her podcast last year. Truemed collects fees when users and partnering companies use its platform. Means also founded a lobbying group, made up of MAHA entrepreneurs and TrueMed vendors, that listed expanding HSAs as a goal on its website. Means said in a statement that the group focused only on broad topics like 'health care incentives and patient choice — but did not lobby for specific bills.' Benefits of HSAs questioned Expanding HSAs has been part of the Republican health platform for more than 20 years. The tax-free accounts were created in 2003 to encourage Americans in high-deductible plans to be judicious with their health dollars. But HSAs have not brought down spending, economists say. They are disproportionately used by the wealthiest Americans, who have more income to fund them and bigger incentives to lower their tax rate. Americans who earn more than $1 million annually are the group most likely to make regular HSA contributions, according to an analysis by the nonprofit Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Most Americans with HSAs have balances less than $500. HSA expansions in Trump's 'One Big Beautiful Bill' are projected to cost the federal government $180 billion over the next 10 years. 'These are really just tax breaks in the guise of health policy that overwhelmingly benefit people with high incomes,' said Gideon Lukens, a former White House budget official during the Obama and Trump administrations. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
The Independent
3 hours ago
- Health
- The Independent
Takeaways from AP's report on financial interests of RFK Jr. adviser who runs wellness platform
Calley Means has built a following by railing against the U.S. health system, often hammering on alleged financial conflicts within the medical establishment. Means, a top aide to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was hired as a White House adviser in March. He has used that position to accuse physician groups, federal agencies and government scientists of financial interests that bias their work. Means, however, has his own stake in the sprawling health system. He's the co-founder of an online platform that offers dietary supplements, herbal remedies, exercise equipment, light therapy lamps and other wellness products. The Associated Press found that Means' heated rhetoric against the medical mainstream dovetails with the interests of his company TrueMed, which features vendors who are prominent supporters of Kennedy's 'Make America Healthy Again' movement. Because of his status as a temporary government employee, Means is exempt from publicly disclosing his financial details. The AP reviewed more than two dozen interviews, speeches, articles and podcast appearances by Means both before and after he joined the government. Here are some takeaways from the AP's reporting: Attacking prescription drugs, promoting wellness alternatives Means' company, Truemed, helps users take tax-free money out of their health savings accounts, or HSAs, to spend on things that wouldn't normally qualify as medical expenses, such as meal delivery services and homeopathic products — remedies based on a centuries-old, debunked theory of medicine. As a top messenger for the administration, Means has been promoting a new government report that calls for scaling back prescription drugs for depression, weight loss and other conditions. By criticizing the use of drugs and other rigorously tested products, health experts say Means is furthering the interests of his company, which offers alternatives to traditional medicine. 'It reeks of hypocrisy,' said Dr. Reshma Ramachandran, a health researcher at Yale University. 'In effect, he is representing another industry that is touting nonregulated products and using his platform within the government to financially benefit himself.' In a written statement, Means said his government work has not dealt with matters affecting Truemed and has focused on issues like reforming nutrition programs and pressuring companies to phase out food dyes. 'Pursuing these large-scale MAHA goals to make America healthy has been the sole focus in my government work,' Means said. Undisclosed interests The full extent of Means' potential financial conflicts are unclear because of his status as a special government employee. Unlike presidential appointees and other senior officials, special government employees do not have to leave companies or sell investments that could be impacted by their work. Also, their financial disclosure forms are shielded from public release. 'It's a big problem,' says Richard Painter, former White House ethics lawyer under George W. Bush. 'I think it's a loophole." Plugging products and business associates While promoting the administration's accomplishments, Means has not shied away from plugging his own brand or those of his business partners. When asked to offer health advice to listeners of a sports podcast, Outkick The Show, in April, Means suggested they read his book "Good Energy,' which he co-authored with his sister, Dr. Casey Means. He also recommended blood tests sold by Function Health, which provides subscription-based testing for $500 annually. The company was cofounded by Dr. Mark Hyman, a friend of Kennedy and an investor in Truemed, which also offers Hyman's supplements through its platform. Like dietary supplements, the tests marketed by Function Health are not clinically approved by the Food and Drug Administration. 'It ends up favoring these products and services that rest on flimsy grounds, at the expense of products that have actually survived a rigorous FDA approval process,' said Dr. Peter Lurie, a former FDA official who is now president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Steering medical dollars into health savings accounts Means says he has not worked on issues impacting HSAs since joining the federal government. Federal ethics laws forbid government employees from taking part in decisions that could impact their financial situation. But before joining government, Means said the mission of his company 'is to steer medical dollars into flexible spending.' 'I want to get that $4.5 trillion of Medicare, Medicaid, everything into a flexible account,' he told fitness celebrity Jillian Michaels, on her podcast last year. Truemed collects fees when users and partnering companies use its platform. Means also founded a lobbying group, made up of MAHA entrepreneurs and TrueMed vendors, that listed expanding HSAs as a goal on its website. Means said in a statement that the group focused only on broad topics like 'health care incentives and patient choice — but did not lobby for specific bills.' Benefits of HSAs questioned Expanding HSAs has been part of the Republican health platform for more than 20 years. The tax-free accounts were created in 2003 to encourage Americans in high-deductible plans to be judicious with their health dollars. But HSAs have not brought down spending, economists say. They are disproportionately used by the wealthiest Americans, who have more income to fund them and bigger incentives to lower their tax rate. Americans who earn more than $1 million annually are the group most likely to make regular HSA contributions, according to an analysis by the nonprofit Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Most Americans with HSAs have balances less than $500. HSA expansions in Trump's 'One Big Beautiful Bill' are projected to cost the federal government $180 billion over the next 10 years. 'These are really just tax breaks in the guise of health policy that overwhelmingly benefit people with high incomes,' said Gideon Lukens, a former White House budget official during the Obama and Trump administrations. ___
BreakingNews.ie
6 days ago
- General
- BreakingNews.ie
CHI audit finds paediatric critical care units 'under strain'
An audit of the country's two paediatric critical care units, at Crumlin and Temple Street, has found that while they deliver high-quality care, the system is under strain. The number of children admitted to adult intensive care units doubled to 148 cases in 2023. Advertisement The National Office of Clinical Audit found high bed occupancy rates, that were above 95 per cent, and says more investment is needed. The Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has said that one of her major concerns is how waiting lists are managed which was why she had called for an overall audit of how waiting lists are managed 'across the board in CHI'. Speaking on RTÉ radio's Morning Ireland, Ms Carroll MacNeill said that as Minister she needed to ensure that the public system was working in the most productive way 'during the public hours that consultants are paid to do public work in a public hospital. 'What's not acceptable and what the concern is here is that those procedures are not happening quickly enough or in a sufficiently efficient way and that they're becoming such long waiters that NTPF intervention is required. Advertisement 'So my underlying issue is, how are those lists being managed? So what I've done is, Bernard Gloster and I have decided to have an overall audit of how are these waiting lists managed generally across the board in CHI in every discipline to ensure that that's not being replicated.' Ms Carroll MacNeill urged concerned parents to 'just sit with me and sit with the NTPF for a number of days, for a week or 10 days to allow the NTPF to do their work". 'This is something where the NTPF absolutely need assurance that this is being done correctly but what they also need is to make sure that there is no mismanagement of lists such that a child is waiting so long that they are required to be on the NTPF list where there could have been an earlier surgical intervention. 'And that is the bigger issue here. That is the bigger issue and that is what raises such particular concerns around the issues in this report but it also raises the broader patient safety concerns and what we need to do is make sure that that is happening in the most productive way in the public system in every discipline.' Advertisement The Minister said that in addition to the audit there would be a change to a centralised referral mechanism which would mean that if a child was referred to a consultant surgeon, they would not be referred to an individual surgeon, but into a central referral mechanism. 'Which means that the hospital can assess who has the shortest list, who has capacity to do this, rather than being sort of assigned to or stuck with an individual, who then has the capacity to do things at whatever pace, and some of them are doing very efficiently, and others less so.' 'We need to make sure and the NTPF need to make sure, and I need to make sure, Bernard Gloucester needs to and the CHI need to make sure that there are no perverse practices or no perverse incentives from the way in which waiting lists are managed. 'So I would ask parents to just sit with me just for a week or 10 days to allow the NTPF to get these assurances and to do their work. The NTPF have already assured that existing surgery scheduled will not be impacted but our concern is we need to make sure that this isn't happening anywhere else in the system.' Advertisement Ms Carroll MacNeill acknowledged that the NTPF had only recently discovered that there had not been a referral to the National Patient Safety Office. 'Let's not underestimate the impact of that, nor was there a referral to the department or a notification to any of us. So that's not a satisfactory way of managing that, and I expect that to be very, very different. There is no CHI without the state. The state is the funder of all of these services, and people who work in CHI, both at executive level, but let me be very clear, consultants in CH , and everybody who is in CHI is a public servant, and it is important that they understand that.'
CTV News
03-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Quebec's average ER wait time is now more than 5 hours – longest in the country
Quebecers waited an average of five hours and 23 minutes to be seen in the province's emergency rooms last year, finds a new report by the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI). 'These long wait times are not just numbers — they represent real Canadians who face delays in receiving critical care that cause needless pain or distress,' said Emmanuelle B. Faubert, an economist at the MEI and author of the report. 'In all the provinces, wait times are worse today than they were five years ago, a clear sign that our health care systems are struggling to provide their patients with timely access to care.' According to the report, an average patient visiting a Quebec emergency room in 2024 spent 10 minutes longer waiting than they would have the previous year. This also represents a one-hour increase over the past five years. 'With patients in Quebec having some of the longest emergency room visits in the country, it's clear that things need to change,' said Faubert. 'It's important to note that, while this is the province's median, patients in some parts of the province are unfortunately having to wait even longer for emergency medical care.' The longest emergency room stays in Quebec were in Laval (eight hours), the Laurentians (seven hours and seven minutes) and the Montérégie (six hours and 55 minutes). The Pavillon Albert-Prévost mental health emergency room in Montreal topped the list of longest lengths of stay at 13 hours and five minutes. The second longest was the Royal Victoria Hospital (10 hours and 33 minutes) at the McGill University Health Centre (MUCH) in Montreal and Anna-Laberge Hospital (10 hours and 26 minutes) in Châteauguay on the South Shore.c 'Having to spend long hours waiting in an emergency room may be the norm in Quebec, but in other developed countries, it isn't,' noted Faubert. 'It's clear that solving the issue of long wait times requires looking at best practices from abroad, such as Europe's mixed systems, to finally give patients the timely access they deserve.' In comparison to Quebec's five-hour and 23-minute wait times, the report found that average ER stays across the country last year were as follows:
CBC
02-06-2025
- General
- CBC
From outbreaks to mass casualty events, Alberta's health system preps for G7 summit
Social Sharing Alberta's health system is being prepared for a variety of scenarios, including disease outbreaks and mass casualty incidents, ahead of the G7 leaders' summit in Kananaskis later this month. According to Alberta Health Services (AHS), which has been planning for the event since last year, 150 health personnel will be deployed to various sites in Calgary and the Bow Corridor to support the high profile event. World leaders will gather in Kananaskis from June 15 to 17 and thousands of delegates, journalists and others are expected to descend upon the Calgary region. "AHS has robust emergency response plans in place for all hospital sites for scenarios such as mass casualty incidents, food-borne illness, protests, wildfires or extreme weather events," an AHS spokesperson said in an email. "These plans include co-ordinating with the provincial government, Health Canada, local law enforcement and other partners as appropriate." "It's a very large operation," said Dr. James Talbot, a former chief medical officer of health for Alberta, who is not involved in planning this event but understands the logistics of public health based on his years in the top job. In addition to security planning for an event of of this scale, a lot of work goes on behind the scenes to prevent illness and injury and ensure the health system can respond quickly and appropriately if anything happens, said Talbot. "Getting all your ducks in a row, so that hopefully you don't have to use any of it — but if you do, that it goes seamlessly — is really a labour-intensive and time-intensive operation," said Talbot, whose tenure in the top job ended in 2015. He is now an adjunct professor at the University of Alberta's school of public health. Ensuring the health and safety of heads of state is a complicated process involving local, provincial, federal and international governments and agencies, according to Talbot. He expects ambulances, helicopters, hospitals and ICUs will likely be prepared and on standby. Doctors, nurses and other staff will be needed to work in emergency rooms, ICUs, labs and diagnostic testing. Equipment such as masks are likely being stockpiled along with a variety of drugs and blood supplies, he added. Some world leaders may bring along their own health and security personnel, Talbot said, and that can require a high degree of co-ordination. "For instance, the American president often travels with their own ICU staff, a portable operating room, their own diagnostic capacity and obviously might decide that they would prefer to have a president or member of the staff stabilized and then sent directly, as quickly as possible, to an American institution," said Talbot. "But that will not be true of all of the nations that participate." In the months leading up events such as this, many steps are taken to prevent health problems such as outbreaks of infectious diseases or food-borne illnesses, according to Talbot. That would include repeated water quality testing at the venues, ensuring catering services are hygienic and safe and staff are healthy, as well as inspections of mechanical HVAC systems to ensure they can handle air quality issues such as wildfire smoke, he said. According to AHS, the RCMP handles the summit's overall risk assessments, and the federal government is responsible for ensuring all arrangements for the event and all costs associated with protecting the health of heads of state. A federal government spokesperson said Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) are working with all levels of government along with private sector partners on health and safety efforts. "Health Canada and PHAC are taking precautionary steps to be ready, if called upon by the Province of Alberta, to help respond to a range of incidents, including an infectious disease outbreak, weather related emergencies, or an event causing mass casualties at the summit site or elsewhere," the spokesperson said in an email. "Federal support available includes a highly trained team of medical professionals who would be the first medical responders on the scene in the event of any medical incident." A stockpile of personal protective equipment, biomedical equipment and pharmaceuticals is available to provinces if they run out or their supplies are not immediately available, the department said. Similar preparations were made for previous large events, including the G7 leaders' summit in Charlevoix, Que., in 2018. "It's really good to be prepared. It's really good to be thinking about this. But I would say everyone on the front lines is just hopeful nothing happens," said Dr. Paul Parks, past-president of the Alberta Medical Association. Parks, who is also an emergency room doctor in Medicine Hat, said hospitals are already under strain. "We don't have a lot of give in the system and it will have major impacts if we had to absorb something significant."
