The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "Health and Family Services" ...
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"Medicare and Home Health Care"
The Wall Street Journal investigated the home health care industry, which has seen increased growth during the last few years. After studying the data found in "millions of Medicare files," reporters found evidence of fraudulent behavior. Several home health companies including one of the largest - Amedisys Inc. - are "taking advantage of the Medicare reimbursement system" by finding ways to pay themselves more.
Tags: Amedisys Inc.; Medicare; home health; Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; MedPAC; William Borne; LHC Group; Gentiva Health Services; Almost Family
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Children In Crisis
“Kentucky leads the nation in its rate of children who die from neglect or abuse”. Many people missed the warning signs of abuse and these include social workers, family members, health professionals, and day care workers. Another factor into the problem was budget cuts, which wear down a system meant to protect children.
Tags: kids; child welfare; authorities; maltreatment; violence; Health and Family Services; Child Protective Services; programs
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Mental Disorder: The Failure of Reform
Until the News and Observer published "Mental Disorder," most North Carolinians had no idea that their state mental health system was a disaster. The five-part series examined each major failure of an 8-year reform effort. Major findings included that the sate had wasted at least $400 million on services that were ineffective or unneeded and various cases of money mismanagement. They also found that at least 82 patients in state mental health hospitals and homes for the developmentally disabled had died of homicide, suicide, accidents or medical errors. In dozens of cases, hospital officials had covered up the true circumstances of the deaths by falsifying records and telling family members the patients had died of natural causes.
Tags: mental health; developmentally disabled citizens; North Carolina; mental health reform; mental health hospitals; patient rights; patient abuse; patient neglect
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The Bully Project
WITI-TV caught a seven-year-old student being brutally attacked by other students on a playground as teachers standby. The tape and other reports of bullying at school spurred an investigative story by WITI-TV and eventually led to a public service program that helps hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin children. The Bully Project gives students and parents information about school bullying and offers them tips on how to prevent it.
Tags: The Bully Project; school abuse; Department of Health and Family Services; PTA; public service programs
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Troubled Children: Trapped by Greed
This three-part series explores the group home system in North and South Carolina. The investigation found that in many cases profit was more important than treatment, but that tens of milloins of dollars were wasted since 2001 due to staffing level requirements. Another story told of the group home boom that happened when entreprenuers found they could start a group home with little experience and significant profit. Finally, the series looked ahead at what was in store for the future of group homes to find that a return to family care and group home reforms were likely.
Tags: mental health; neglect; Department of Health and Human Services
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"A crisis in foster care: Hardships prevalent for those raising children's children
This investigation found that nearly a third more New York grandparents are raising their grandchildren than a decade ago, and of those, a disproportionate number have fallen into poverty. An unresponsive child-welfare system has forced these grandparents into making a tough decision: Place their grandchildren into foster care and become foster parents themselves in order to receive government aid, or ignore the foster care system and scrounge to support their families.
Tags: grandparents; grandchildren; foster care; poverty; census; child welfare; adoption; Children and Family Services; Department of Social Services; Department of Health and Human Services; guardianship; CAR; computer-assisted reporting
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Rollback: A Corporate Feeding Frenzy During Bush's Honeymoon
A Multinational Monitor investigative packet looks at the first hundred days for the George W. Bush administration, and finds that the cabinet has "aggressively carried forward the corporate agenda." The stories within the packet focus on the negative consequences to the environment, workers, public health, consumers, civil rights, mining, etc., resulting from the suspension or rescinding of important regulations. One of the articles sheds light on the new bankruptcy rules that favor the automobile industry and finance companies, while diminishing the chance of financially devastated low-income families to resume "lives as productive members of their community." A separate piece reveals the background and the corporate connections of vice-[president Dick Cheney. The packet includes profiles of the members of Bush's "corporate cabinet," and dissects some possible motives that might have inspired their actions in the first 100 days. The profiled officials are: Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, EPA Administrator Christine Whitman, Veteran Affairs Secretary Anthony J. Principi, Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton, Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans, Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill, Attorney General John Ashcroft, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham, Secretary of Education Rod Paige, Director Office of Management and Budget Mitch Daniels, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, Secretary of Transportation Norm Minetta, Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson, Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman, National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice, Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Tags: politics; business; money and politics; Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA); musculoskeletal disorders; cancer; drinking water; arsenic; ergonomic injuries; roads; forests; bankruptcy
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The District's Lost Children. A Decade of Deadly Mistakes
The Washington Post investigates "critical errors by city's network," which have led to the death of 40 children who were supposedly under the protection of social workers, police officers, judges and other city employees. The story is based on data from confidential files that "show wide patter of official neglect." The report reveals that one in five protected children who perished from 1993 through 2000 "lost their lives after government workers failed to take key preventive action or placed children in unsafe homes or institutions." Washington Post finds that confidentiality laws drafted to protect children have been used to shield government officials from scrutiny.
Tags: Child and Family Services Agency; social workers; nursing homes; doctors; judges; neglect; abuse; courts; government; mental health; child protection; Washington; D.C.; deaths; mistreatment
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Better Than a Nursing Home?
Time Magazine reports on assisted-living centers, "designed to help residents with daily tasks but not to provide skilled medical care." And while these centers offer the freedom and independence nursing homes withhold, reporter Andrew Goldstein discovered that many of these centers do not uphold their expectations. Staff members many times lack basic medical knowledge, have other duties besides caring for patients and lack motivation due to low wages. Consumer advocates have tried to enhance regulation and providers have promised to improve patient care, but family members of loved ones in these centers say concerns still remain.
Tags: nursing homes; elderly; American Seniors Housing Association; Department of Health and Human Services; Assisted Living Federation
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Getting the Brush-Off
Minnesota Monthly investigates "the shortage of dentists in Minnesota, particularly outside the metro area. Health officials say this is a result of many factors. 'One is the competition for dental care. There's more people needing dental care than we have dentists available to provide service. The second is we have competition between what people can and will pay for dental care and that drives who's going to get priority for appointments.' And with that comes the problem of many Minnesotans not receiving dental care at all. Mostly because of insurance policies like MinnesotaCare, a state medical and dental plan for low-income families. 'With MinnesotaCare . . . people are essentially buying an insurance policy without providers. And while there are compassionate dentists serving the low-income population, they don't necessarily want word to get out.'
Tags: dental care; Minnesota Department of Human Services; low income families; dentists; Minnesota Health Care Programs; oral health