Tom Mueller

NYT-bestselling author of HOW TO MAKE A KILLING My TEDx on whistleblowing here:

[Tom Mueller @tommuellerX]

My book https://t.co/1xVMS6HBQa is based on 6 years of interviews w patients, workers, nephrologists, plus economists, lawyers & policymakers et al. Voices of courage & clarity, who shine light on this little-known world, & give the US healthcare debate a scalpel-sharp edge. /4

[Sen. Bernie Sanders @SenSanders]

Dialysis provider Fresenius paid its CEO $4.8 million in 2024—then fired nurse Alan Faustino for speaking out about working conditions.

@Fresenius, @DaVita, @USRenalCare, @SatelliteHealth: Union-busting has no place in health care. Bargain in good faith. Reinstate him.

[Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy @RacePowerPolicy]

We caught up with Senior Fellow @tommuellerx about his latest book, How to Make a Killing, which covers the profit-driven dialysis industry. We spoke with Tom about the book, the broken American healthcare system, and how it can change for the better. #HumansOfTheInstitute series

[Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy @RacePowerPolicy]

Institute Senior Fellow @tommuellerX’s latest book diagnoses a sickness in the American healthcare system: financial conflicts of interest.

We spoke with Tom about his book and how he’s addressing systemic issues in the healthcare industry.

[Tom Mueller @tommuellerX]

@hedgefundinvest @hedgefundinvest No doubt some rounding out was in order -- we covered a lot of territory! Would love to hear the bullet points of what topics you would have nuanced, improved or corrected. Always looking to up my game (& well aware it needs upping)

[Tom Mueller @tommuellerX]

My appearance on Trevor Noah's podcast "What Now?" just aired:

https://t.co/C4NzAMxHdm

We go deep & then broad -- an in-depth exploration of America's dialysis disaster, then outwards into our larger healthcare drama & the neoliberal drivers behind it all.

Thoughts?

[Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy @RacePowerPolicy]

Institute Senior Fellow @tommuellerX joined @Trevornoah for a conversation on @WhatNowPodcast about his latest book, How to Make a Killing, and the profit-driven sickness in American healthcare.

▶️ Watch the podcast episode
https://t.co/58TDU0dq8P

[Tom Mueller @tommuellerX]

@NewLowObserver Many thanks @NewLowObserver ! "To a fault" might be taken literally as well as figuratively . . . but at the end of the day, money is at the root of so much that I wrote about that I just couldn't cut my look at financial markets short.

[Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy @RacePowerPolicy]

Kicking patients out of facilities.
Sabotaging opportunities for kidney transplants. Ending treatments early.
Corruption runs deep in the for-profit dialysis industry.

Watch Senior Fellow @tommuellerX break it down on @MorePerfectUS
https://t.co/pOSHov3Ugz

[Tom Mueller @tommuellerX]

@marcoammannati Fact-checking is by definition 3rd party, and external to the "facts" being checked and the people producing those "facts." Meta's brilliant new idea sounds more like an echo chamber, and a way to avoid having to stand with objective truth.

[Kevin W. Farmer, MD @kevinfarmermd]

The fact that every doctor thought “I’m sure this is related to denying access to care” after hearing about the shooting of United Health Care’s CEO shows how bad our system is

[Tom Mueller @tommuellerX]

@FerArceAmare @hswapnil @acssjr @myadla @nephromythri @ISNWCN @NephJC @ISNeducation @NSMCInternship Love the range of reactions here! Was there a significant time lag between participants, or did some people find very funny what others were only mildly amused by?

[Tom Mueller @tommuellerX]

Thanks for the nudge @kidney_boy . I've done the same, with the same handle.

[Joel M. Topf, MD FACP @kidney_boy]

Received this text today

So in the name of transparency, here’s the deal:
I’m moving to Bl**Sk*
I’m Kidneyboy over there

See you over there.
Try it, you’ll like it.

[Tom Mueller @tommuellerX]

@gratefull080504 Completely agree Kevin Fowler ( @gratefull080504 ), and continue to be inspired by your unrelenting push to have patient voices heard!

[Tom Mueller @tommuellerX]

@kidney_boy @gratefull080504 5/ Do they understand that shorter, higher UFR & blood flow dialysis sessions are often, at least in the medical literature I'm familiar with, associated not only w/ negative symptoms but also w/ higher patient mortality?

[Tom Mueller @tommuellerX]

@kidney_boy @gratefull080504 4/ My interviews w/ patients support this. They assume that all dialysis produces symptoms they hate, & therefore want as little of it as possible. Might they be more receptive if they knew (& experienced) that longer slower dialysis has fewer side effects?

[Tom Mueller @tommuellerX]

@kidney_boy @gratefull080504 3/ "Because almost all present-day US nephrologists started practice years after the late 1960s and early 1970s, they have no knowledge of the experience at that time and have accepted and expected that the symptoms described ... are 'normal' for many patients."

[Tom Mueller @tommuellerX]

@kidney_boy @gratefull080504 2/ Blagg: "In the 1970s, w/ the advent of more efficient dialyzers allowing shorter dialysis at greater blood flows, the rapid proliferation of dialysis units..., & the rapid decrease in the use of home hemodialysis, the symptoms described ... became commonplace in [US patients]

[Tom Mueller @tommuellerX]

@kidney_boy @gratefull080504 1/ Not being a medical professional, I'll reply by quoting one. On p 52 of my book, I cite the response of Chris Blagg, close collaborator of Belding Scribner in Seattle, to a 2008 article on common side effects of dialysis - lethargy, nausea etc.

[Brent Miller @HomeHemodialys1]

@kidney_boy @tommuellerX Here is an interesting thought exercise: if you could change one aspect of dialysis in the US, what would have the most positive overall impact for the patients?

[Joel M. Topf, MD FACP @kidney_boy]

Tom Mueller ⁦@tommuellerX⁩ on the corrosiveness of conflict of interest. https://t.co/ncP08xXmV0