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 record" ...
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America's Great State Payroll Giveaway
A state-employed psychiatrist in California made $822,000 by clocking in 17 hours every day last year, including Sundays and holidays. An employee cashed out with $609,000 for unused vacation when she retired, claiming she never took vacations in a 30-year career. A highway patrol officer collected $484,000 in salary, pension and leave payments. The chief money manager at a Texas pension fund got $1 million in salary and bonuses while posting investment returns that trailed those of peers who earned a quarter as much. Bloomberg News used freedom-of-information laws to obtain 1.4 million payroll records from the 12 largest states and show how taxpayers funded these out-of-control expenses and more, while at the same time states cut funding for universities, public safety, health care, schools and services aimed at the neediest residents.
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Cracking the Codes
Cracking the Codes documented how thousands of medical professionals have steadily billed Medicare for more complex and costly health care over the past decade – adding $11 billion or more to their fees – despite little evidence elderly patients required more treatment. The series also uncovered a broad range of costly billing errors and abuses that have plagued Medicare for years – from confusion over how to pick proper payment codes to apparent overcharges in medical offices and hospital emergency rooms. The findings strongly suggest these problems, known as “upcoding,” are worsening amid lax federal oversight and the government-sponsored switch from paper to electronic medical records.
Tags: Medicare; health care; billing; medical offices; hospitals; government; medical records
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Failure to Aid
Over the last year, I spent a lot of time researching and reporting on stories pertaining to the mental health treatment of people in prison. More specifically, I have successfully fought to gain access to public records in order to tell the story of Tony Lester. Tony was a young man who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He committed an assault and was sentenced to serve time at the Arizona State Prison in Tucson. Tragically, Tony committed suicide while in prison. Staff in the prison failed to render aid when they discovered him in his cell bleeding. My investigation not only revealed that he was improperly placed in with the general population against a judge's order and a court-ordered psychiatrist order...but he was also mistakenly given razors as part of a hygiene kit.
Tags: prison; paranoid schizophrenia; suicide; mental health
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Massey Mine Explosion Investigation
Immediately following a deadly mine explosion in West Virginia, CBS News began digging through records from the Mine Safety and Health Administration and found the mine had a shoddy safety record. In fact, on the day of the explosion, the mine's owner, Massey Energy, was cited for violating two federal safety rules.
Tags: Massey Energy; mine; mine explosion; safety; Upper Big Branch Mine; West Virginia; Mine Safety Health Administration
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"Physicians on Pharma's Payroll: Educators or Marketers?"
This story focuses on doctors as industry speakers and their relationship with pharmaceutical companies. The pharmaceutical companies claim to choose speakers based on expertise, but further investigation shows that many of the hired physicians have "serious transgressions on their state records." They also tend to be "high prescribers" of the company's products.
Tags: pharmacy; prescriptions; Geodon; Pfizer; antipsychotic drugs; pharmaceutical companies; Department of Health; New York; Food and Drug Administration
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"Electronic Health Records: Will They Be Safer and Save Money?"
In this yearlong, multimedia project, reporters Schulte and Schwartz investigated the shift of paper medical records to electronic records. The report drew attention to the "challenges officials are facing in computerizing" the records. Some of the challenges include concerns of privacy and patient well-being.
Tags: records; MAUDE; FDA; Center for Devices and Radiological Health; database
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Deadly Neglect
The Tribune investigates the Chicago care facility with the worst safety record in Illinois. There were 13 deaths due to neglect or unexplained causes and countless illnesses that went ignored.
Tags: Alden Village North; disabilities; health; care; safety
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Brain Wars: How the Military is Failing Its Wounded
NPR and ProPublica investigated to see whether the government had kept its promise to improve health care for soldiers with brain injuries. The stories reveal that the military was not diagnosing most of the brain injuries and those that were diagnosed were not being recorded in the soldier's medical records.
Tags: brain injury; military; soldier; traumatic brain injury; diagnose
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"Their Crime, Your Dime"
Following several tips on possible "government waste," and schemes that target Seattle taxpayers, KING-TV produced this series of three stories titled "Their Crime, Your Dime." The team exposed how merchants operated a "broad scheme" that allowed citizens to convert their food stamps into cash. Another story revealed how "welfare recipients" were spending millions of "taxpayer cash in the state's casinos."
Tags: food stamps; taxpayer; welfare; State Department of Social and Health Services; ATM; casino; public records; black market
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Patients in Peril
The investigation exposed violations of state law, negligence and countless cover-ups at the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex. Findings include evidence of sexual activity between patients, doctors remaining on staff with records of sexual abuse and a starvation death of a patient.
Tags: doctor abuse; mental health; negligence; sexual abuse; cover-up