I have reported on health for most of my career. My work as an investigative reporter at the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register exposed problems with the fertility industry, the trade in human body parts and the use of illegal drugs in sports. I helped create a first-of-its-kind report card judging hospitals on a wide array of measures for a story that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. I was one of the lead reporters on a series of stories about lead in candy, a series that also was a finalist for the Pulitzer.For the Center for Health Journalism (previously known as Reporting on Health), I have written about investigative health reporting and occasionally broke news on my column, Antidote. I also was the project editor on the Just One Breath collaborative reporting series.  These days, for the University of Washington, I now work as the Executive Director for Insitutue for Health Metrics and Evaluation's Client Services, a social enterprise. You can follow me on Twitter @wheisel.

Articles

Physician Compare Needs an Immediate Tune-Up

<p>Medicare’s new consumer information site, <a href="http://www.medicare.gov/find-a-doctor/provider-search.aspx?AspxAutoDete… Compare</a>, promises the same gold mine of data patients find when they use <a href="http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov/hospital-search.aspx?loc=98115&amp;l… Compare</a> or <a href="http://www.medicare.gov/NHCompare/Include/DataSection/Questions/SearchC… Home Compare</a>. But, unlike those sites, Physician Compare does not keep its promises.</p>

Ten ways to help state medical boards better protect patients

<p>Although Doctors Behaving Badly tends to focus on exactly what you would expect, its mission is to make people aware of the many ways that patients are left unprotected.</p> <p>There are nearly 1 million licensed, practicing physicians nationwide. Antidote has no ability to count how many are “behaving badly,” but it is safe to say that only a slim minority are tainting the reputation of the medical community. Doctors who abuse, injure or kill patients are the surrogate markers for an illness in the physician discipline system. They are not the illness.</p>

State medical boards leave patients in danger and in the dark

<p>Medical boards from coast to coast are inconsistent, inefficient and ill equipped to monitor the hundreds of thousands of doctors licensed under their watch, Antidote’s investigation of every state board has found. There are some standouts, but, overall, they do a terrible job protecting patients and informing the public.</p> <p>It bears repeating that most doctors do a great job and are focused on one thing: helping their patients heal and lead healthier lives. The mission of this tour was to explore what happens to that minority of doctors who don’t follow the rules.</p>

Plagiarism, psych wards and physician payments: Antidote's favorite health stories of 2010

<p><strong>Plagiarism, psych wards and physician payments: Antidote’s favorite health stories of 2010</strong></p> <p>It’s time again for <em>Antidote </em>to list, in no particular order, my favorite health stories from the year. The first five are below. The next five will be posted later in the week.</p> <p>“<a href="http://www.baycitizen.org/health/story/napa-state-hospitals-grisly-insi… State Hospital's Grisly Inside Story</a>,” Katharine Mieszkowski, <em>The Bay Citizen, </em>December 2010</p>

Wyoming opens arms to doc on the run from criminal past

<p>State medical boards are Ellis Islands for doctors. Doctors licensed in another state or fresh out of medical school have to pass muster with the board before being allowed to see patients in that state. If they have a history of problems in other states, the medical board can tell them to look for work elsewhere. One of the most common reasons states cite for disciplining a doctor, in Antidote’s experience, is discipline by another state.</p>