Community & Public Health

Doctors are famously busy. Would having their staff run checks of patients’ prescription histories instead make drug-tracking databases more effective?

There’s a safety gap in New York City hospitals that puts the lives of black women at much greater risk than white women. Experts say better hospital culture can reduce the risks.

It can be hard to find new, compelling ways of telling stories about well-known health issues. But as reporter Elizabeth Aguilera discovered in her series on type 2 diabetes, that shouldn’t stop you.

How do we begin to solve the prescription drug crisis ravaging communities across the country? A recent report points the way to promising solutions, including some that should've been implemented years ago.

Data recently made public by Philadelphia's school district showed that nearly 15 percent of water samples taken from school drinking water outlets had lead higher than the legal level for home tap water. This needs to change.

In the wake of reporting from two National Fellows, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said Monday that the city will begin to enforce a four-year-old law that requires landlords to certify that their properties are lead-safe before renting to families with young kids.

With more than 90 percent of Philadelphia homes built before the nation's 1978 lead-paint ban, the city struggles to eradicate childhood lead poisoning and ranks among the top U.S. cities for children at risk.

This article was produced as a project for the USC Center for Health Journalism’s California Fellowship.

The election of Donald Trump to the presidency will be the most consequential event for U.S. health care reform since the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. Repealing Obamacare will be a top priority for the incoming administration and the Republican-controlled Congress. But there’s tremend

Hospitals can be dangerous, uncomfortable places. As two recent pieces in high-profile medical journals detail, the "hospital-at-home" approach can offer a better alternative for many patients.