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 "medical information" ...
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StarTribune: Discipline Deferred
A six-month investigation by the Star Tribune found that the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice, once considered a national leader in the regulation of licensed physicians, often doesn’t punish doctors whose mistakes harm patients or who demonstrate a pattern of substandard care. After analyzing information compiled by a national databank and reviewing thousands of pages of court and medical board records, the reporters found that the board, which regulates 20,000 physicians in the state, has been reluctant to punish some doctors who have harmed patients, including more than 100 doctors who were disciplined by other states and even doctors who lost privileges to practice at Minnesota hospitals. The investigation also showed that the board lags behind boards in other states in disclosing information to the public, including data on malpractice judgments or settlements. It also doesn’t disclose whether doctors have been disciplined by regulators in other states or lost their privileges to work in hospitals and other facilities for surgical mistakes and other problems.
Tags: Board of Medical Practice; physicians; doctors; punishment; patients
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C-HIT: Pharma Perks
The Affordable Care Act requires pharmaceutical companies to publicly report all payments to physicians by September 2013. Some drug companies have already compiled, but few consumers know that the information is available or how to access it. What this story did is disclose for the first time for CT consumers: 1) how many doctors in Connecticut are high-prescribers of certain psychotropic and pain medications, (108) 2) the cost of written prescriptions (hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases) 3) how many of these doctors received payments from drug companies (at least 43) 4) and the amounts that the doctors received from the drug companies ($30,000 - $99,000) It also reported that only 3 doctors on the high-prescribing drug list have been disciplined by the state Medical Examining Board.
Tags: Affordable Care Act; pharmacy; physicians; prescriptions; drugs; Medical Examining Board
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DNA Deception
When state health officials were sued for storing infant blood samples without parental consent, they said it was for medical research. The Tribune shows that these health officials were also turning over hundreds of dried blood samples to the federal government without informing the public.
Tags: medical research; DNA; blood samples; health officials; public
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Doctor Lost Priviliges -- But Kept Clean Record
What started as an investigation of one doctor's questionable practices, led to a larger expose on St. Louis hospital violations and the state's lack of punishment for the doctors that are reported. The reporters found that most information about Missouri's problem doctors and unsafe hospital condition is swept under the rug.
Tags: hospital; FDA; doctors; hospital inspection; medical license
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Failure to Inform
“Doctors at dialysis clinics have failed to inform thousands of patients about kidney transplantation, an oversight that could shorten their lives and cost taxpayers millions of dollars a year”. Many patients start dialysis without hearing the benefits of a kidney transplant. The benefits being about 10 years put on your life and saving the federal Medicare program “thousands of dollars a patient”. This series uncovered money plays a large role when prescribing patients on dialysis rather than getting a transplant.
Tags: medicine; health care; medical; costs; kidney disease; taxpayers; debilitating; insurance; treatments
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Early on the Case: Identity Theft
A person's identity is stolen in the United States every three seconds. The investigation examined the underground world of identity theft and the online chat rooms where scammers buy and sell social security numbers, credit card information, bank account numbers and more. The series also investigated medical identity theft.
Tags: identity theft; scam; credit card; social security number; medical identity theft; chat room
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The Evidence Gap
The nations' medical bill last year exceeded $2.7 trillin -- nearly as much as the projected total cost of the Iraq war. If it were medical money well spend, there might be few cries to "reform" the American health care system. But by some estimates, one-third or more of the medical care received by patients in this country may be virtually worthless. The nation is wasting hundreds of billions of dollars each year on superfluous treatments -- money that otherwise could by spent, for example , on providing health insurance for every child, woman and man int his country who currently have no coverage. A team of science and business reporters from The New York Times set out to explain how and why the United States is spending so much on health care with so relatively little to show for the money, They discovered a gaping chasm between scientific evidence and the practice of medicine. In an in-depth series of articles, told through real doctors and patients, and based on information they dug up that was frequently unflattering to medical providers, companies and regulators, the Times team documented many disturbing instances of "The Evidence Gap."
Tags: health care; CT angiograms; Avastin; cancer treatment; reckless spending; Food and Drug Administration; mammograms
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The Social Security backlog
A four-part, multi-article series examined the backlog of social security cases, particularly in the Portland, Ore. area. When presented with the findings, Social Security top official Commissioner Michael J. Astrue acknowledged the backlog of disability claims has gone "seriously in the wrong direction." The reporters found that most people who fight for Social Security benefits after being initially denied with their cases, but the average wait for a disability hearing was 512 days -- 669 days in the Portland office. The series highlighted that the system was particularly hard on veterans as well. Also, using internal Social Security figures, the reporters determined that the agency would pay about $9 billion in benefits to people who no longer deserved them. They later found that the real cost for the failure to review disability cases was between $10 and $11 billion.
Tags: social security; veterans' care; Department of Veteran's Affairs; disability hearings; medical benefits; Freedom of Information Act
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The Dr. Files
KTUL was able to buy 6,971 medical files at an auction after a doctor retired, for just $5. The records included social security numbers, addresses and medical information.
Tags: health care; privacy; records; medical records; patient information; social security numbers; identity
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Uninsurables
CBS examines how the individual market for health insurance works and found "a system stacked against the individual, with insurers combing through private medical databases and records for information, that they can use to deny coverage..."
Tags: insurance; individual; health plans; medical information; insurance companies;