In April, the governor of Oklahoma signed a bill that requires doctors to check a state-run database of patients and prescriptions before writing a new prescription for addictive medications. That makes the state a national leader in efforts to track such prescriptions and curtail abuse.
Rampant consolidation among hospitals and doctors' practices was the theme of our Tuesday webinar with guests Paul B. Ginsburg of USC and Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times. Here's a recap of what they had to say on how the trend is shaping U.S. health care, and what might be done in response.
Reporter Tom Corwin of The Augusta Chronicle was shocked to learn of 82 unexpected deaths in 2013 among disabled patients receiving care in community placements in Georgia. The discovery launched him on an extended data-driven investigation. Here he shares lessons from the series.
Organ transplants are increasing at a faster rate than the population in the U.S., but not all transplant programs are created equal. Knowing where to find the relevant data can help you dig deeper and explore regional variations in wait times and success rates.
Atul Gawande's latest New Yorker piece on unnecessary care has generated much conversation in health care circles. Two leading practitioners of 'Slow Medicine' outline some key takeaways from Gawande's latest must-read take on American medicine.
Will the Supreme Court’s upcoming decision on King v. Burwell effectively dismantle the Affordable Care Act and its broad expansion of health coverage in this country? Or will the law’s latest legal challenge ultimately be defeated?
Reporter Lisa Bernard-Kuhn tackled an ambitious project looking at how doctor offices and hospitals in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana are working through the growing pains and gains ushered in by the ACA. Along the way, she learned a number of useful reporting lessons, shared here.
The Affordable Care Act has expanded health care access to millions of Americans, but also placed new demands on the health care delivery system. Here are five key trends that are helping bring more effective care to more patients in a post-reform world.
As a multimedia journalist, I tell stories using video, photography, radio and writing. For a recent series of data-heavy stories on vaccines, I focusing mainly on writing. But as I came to realize, I should have paid more attention to the images. Here's why.
State medical boards should transform themselves from boards composed mainly of doctors to a model where members of the general public occupy most of the board seats, according to consumer advocates. The push for change follows on a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.
