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Reporting on closing the research to health care delivery gap
In 2015, Jonathan Buckelew was a healthy, 34-year-old man when a chiropractic neck adjustment triggered symptoms that would quickly spiral. He fell unconscious, then was rushed to a hospital. Over the next hours, several physicians failed to recognize that he was having a stroke. That misdiagnosis cost him his ability to move or speak —…
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Tips and sources to boost your coverage of hospital failures
Hospitals in jeopardy: Reporting on local, systemic hospital failures Moderator: Andrew Jones, investigative reporter, Asheville Watchdog Melissa Montalvo, accountability reporter, The Fresno Bee By Tracey Drury, New York Health Journalism Fellow Conditions must be dire for federal regulators to put a hospital into immediate jeopardy, a status that denotes when a provider’s noncompliance on required practices…
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Medical device manufacturers often delay reporting adverse safety events, study says
Medical device manufacturers are required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to report within 30 days any adverse safety events like malfunctions that could injure someone. The agency compiles these events in a centralized database called the Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience (MAUDE) and uses the information to decide whether to communicate any…
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Medical gaslighting tops list of highest patient safety risks
The risks associated with medical professionals dismissing patient, family and caregiver concerns — also called “medical gaslighting” — ranked highest on an annual list of patient safety concerns compiled by the nonprofit organization ECRI. Insufficient governance of AI in health care, the viral spread of medical misinformation, and medical errors and delays in care resulting…
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More hospitals will get dangerously overcrowded, researchers project
If your local hospital isn’t already packed with patients, there’s a good chance it will be in a few years. That’s the conclusion of a research letter published in JAMA Network Open that projects overall national hospital occupancy will reach an unsafe level by 2032. The paper provokes important questions that journalists can strive to…
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Let’s correct misinformation about compounded drugs
“Do you really know what you’re injecting into your body?” So reads a scary Novo Nordisk ad that challenges the safety of compounded versions of its glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drugs, Wegovy and Ozempic. Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, which make the GLP-1 drugs Zepbound and Mounjaro, have been stoking fear about compounded versions of their…
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The latest on the harms of private equity in health care
As private equity firms continue to acquire providers, journalists must report on what we know about how they can undermine quality and access and increase costs. January was an especially prolific month on that front with three new reports — one academic and two governmental. Here are snapshots of each followed by tips to guide…
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