Insights

You learn a lot when you spend months reporting on a given issue or community, as our fellows can attest. Whether you’re embarking on a big new story or seeking to go deeper on a given issue, it pays to learn from those who’ve already put in the shoe leather and crunched the data. In these essays and columns, our community of journalists steps back from the notebooks and tape to reflect on key lessons, highlight urgent themes, and offer sage advice on the essential health stories of the day. 

Author(s)
By Barbara Feder Ostrov

<p>Which consumer health website was dubbed a "hypochondria time suck?" Answers and more in our Daily Briefing.</p>

Author(s)
By William Heisel

<p><em>The Wall Street Journal</em>’s series on Medicare costs, “<a href="http://topics.wsj.com/subject/S/secrets-of-the-system/6281">Secrets of the System</a>,” sets the mind spinning with possibilities for future health investigations. I culled five tips from the <a href="../../../../../../../../blogs/covering-medicare-spending-part-1-tips-wall-street-journals-secrets-system">on Wednesday</a>. Here are five more. Next week, I will offer a few story ideas that could grow out of the Journal’s efforts to crack open the Medicare claims database for everyone.</p>

Author(s)
By Barbara Feder Ostrov

<p>Who are the federal government's most-wanted fugitives in health fraud? Answers and more in our Daily Briefing.</p>

Author(s)
By Annette Fuentes

<p>California scored in the lowest quartile among all states in its health care system's provision of services for children in a new Commonwealth Fund report, and the reasons behind it have very much to do with budget priorities. But there are also the complex issues of immigration and access to care that are not so easily resolved.</p>

Author(s)
By William Heisel

<p><em>The Wall Street Journal</em>’s <a href="http://www.soros.org/initiatives/fellowship/fellows/schoofs_2008">Mark Schoofs</a> and <a href="http://businessjournalism.org/2010/10/27/sifting-medicare-claims-for-fr… Tamman</a> have been dismantling Medicare’s claims database piece by piece for months in a series of blockbuster stories under the umbrella “<a href="http://topics.wsj.com/subject/S/secrets-of-the-system/6281">Secrets of the System</a>.”</p>

Author(s)
By Barbara Feder Ostrov

<p>From the Jonas Brothers to Antonio Banderas, celebrities are cutting deals with Big Pharma. Plus more from our Daily Briefing.</p>

Author(s)
By Ryan ZumMallen

<p>Some officials call for a committment to zero emissions as railard facilities sitting next to homes and schools plan to double in size.</p>

Author(s)
By William Heisel

<p>It’s nice to hear an attorney speak plainly.</p> <p>New Jersey Deputy Attorney General Debra Conrad said recently, of a doctor accused of selling painkillers to patients he had never examined, that he “is no different than a street-corner drug dealer. He sold drugs to people for money. The only difference is that he did so under cover of his medical practice."</p> <p>The doctor in question is <a href="http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2010/07/jersey_city_doc_pleads.html"…. Magdy Elamir</a>.</p>