Start the Presses –

December 21, 2019 – Their reporting showed that when facility operators stand to gain from relapses, patients are routinely paid — in money, drugs, free flights, and more — to attend rehabs. Reporting on the dramatic increase in opioid addiction, from prescription pills to heroin and fentanyl, the Connecticut Health I-Team used data to show the effect in the Naugatuck River Valley. For example, one pharmacy in Ansonia sold 5.4 million pills, or 272 pills for every woman, man and child in the town.  An MLK50 and ProPublica investigation into the rapacious debt collection practices of nonprofit hospital showed that between 2014 and 2018, the Memphis, Tennessee, hospital had sued more than 8,300 patients for unpaid hospital bills. After publication the hospital dramatically changed its policy and agreed to erase more than 6,500 patients’ debt.  New Mexico In Depth revealed an ignored epidemic of hepatitis C in state prisons, where 44% of inmates screened positive yet few can access treatment. The reporting led to a pledge by New Mexico’s new governor to act on the issue.

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