Charles Ornstein

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Charles Ornstein, in collaboration with Tracy Weber, was a lead reporter on a series of articles in the Los Angeles Times titled "The Troubles at King/Drew" hospital that won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and the Sigma Delta Chi Award for public service in 2005. His ProPublica series, with Tracy Weber, "When Caregivers Harm: California's Unwatched Nurses" was a finalist for a 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.

Ornstein reported for the Times starting in 2001, in the last five years largely in partnership with Weber. Earlier, Ornstein spent five years as a reporter for the Dallas Morning News. He is president of the Association of Health Care Journalists and a former Kaiser Family Foundation media fellow.

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Articles

Allergan Erases Doctor Payment Records

Feb. 1, 11:03 a.m.

You can still find some older Allergan payments in ProPublica’s Dollars for Docs database, along with data from 11 other drug companies.

Senate Watchdog Targets High-Prescribing Medicaid Docs

Jan. 24, 2:04 p.m.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, wants to know why an Ohio doctor wrote 54 prescriptions per weekday for the antipsychotic Abilify, while the biggest prescriber of Seroquel wrote an average nine prescriptions per hour.

Drug Companies Reduce Payments to Doctors as Scrutiny Mounts

Jan. 3, 2:55 p.m.

Continued reporting on the influence of pharmaceutical money on medicine spurred tighter rules at medical schools across the nation.

The Champion of Painkillers

Dec. 23, 2011, 2:15 p.m.

The annual death toll from overdoses of painkillers has reached almost 15,000, prompting the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to term it an “epidemic.” But the American Pain Foundation continues to claim the risks are overblown. The advocacy group’s biggest supporter? The drug industry.

Two Leaders in Pain Treatment Have Long Ties to Drug Industry

Dec. 23, 2011, 2:14 p.m.

American Pain Foundation board members Scott Fishman and Perry Fine, both physicians, have lectured and authored publications funded by makers of narcotic painkillers. They say the support doesn’t bias them.

Florida Sanctions Top Medicaid Prescribers — But Only After A Shove

Nov. 17, 2011, 9:03 a.m.

Medicaid programs have long had evidence that a few physicians prescribed risky drugs in excess, but it wasn’t until Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, demanded to know the top prescribers that states began to investigate.

Feds File Massive Fraud Case Against Allied Home Mortgage

Nov. 1, 2011, 4:51 p.m.

Houston-based Allied and its founder, Jim Hodge, were the subject of a July 2010 investigation by ProPublica detailing alleged misconduct in 18 states. The government suspended Allied from issuing government-backed mortgages, saying nearly a third of its FHA loans between 2001 and 2010 defaulted.

Doctors Avoid Penalties in Suits Against Medical Firms

Sept. 16, 2011, 1:23 p.m.

At least 15 drug and medical-device companies have paid $6.5 billion since 2008 to settle accusations of marketing fraud or kickbacks, but none of the more than 75 doctors named as participants were sanctioned.

Troubled Health-Care Staffing Chain Settles With Government for $150 Million

Sept. 12, 2011, 4:03 p.m.

Maxim Healthcare Services, Inc. had been accused of submitting false bills to federal and state health programs. An earlier ProPublica investigation found that the company had hired several nurses despite a history of problems.

News Reports Cite Drop in Physician Speaking Fees

Sept. 8, 2011, 12:18 p.m.

Regional newspapers that analyzed ProPublica’s Dollars for Docs data say drug company payments to physician speakers have declined in their states, suggesting that new restrictions and publicity are making an impact.

Patients Deserve to Know What Drug Companies Pay Their Doctor

Sept. 7, 2011, 8 p.m.

ProPublica’s newly updated Dollars for Docs database offers a glimpse of what patients can expect in 2013, when all drug and medical-device companies must report to the federal government what they pay doctors to help market their products.

About the Dollars for Docs Data

Sept. 7, 2011, 4:34 p.m.

Details behind our drug company money database.

Doctors Dine on Drug Companies’ Dime

Sept. 7, 2011, 4:32 p.m.

Hundreds of thousands of doctors have accepted free meals from pharmaceutical companies that invite them to scientific or educational sessions. At least 20 physicians accepted more than $2,000 worth of meals from one company last year, ProPublica’s Dollars for Docs database shows.

Piercing the Veil, More Drug Companies Reveal Payments to Doctors

Sept. 7, 2011, 4:31 p.m.

An update of ProPublica’s Dollars for Docs database includes more than $760 million in payments from 12 pharmaceutical companies to physicians and other health-care providers for consulting, speaking, research and expenses.

Dollars for Docs

Sept. 7, 2011, 4:30 p.m.

Has Your Doctor Received Drug Company Money?

With Our Dollars for Docs Update Coming, Drug Companies Defend ‘Interactions’ With Physicians

Sept. 7, 2011, 10:48 a.m.

As ProPublica gets ready to refresh its Dollars for Docs database listing payments from drug companies to hundreds of thousands of doctors, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America says paid physician speakers play a critical role in improving patient care.

UCLA Health System Pays $865,000 to Settle Celebrity Privacy Allegations

July 7, 2011, 3:57 p.m.

Alleged breaches of patient privacy at UCLA involving entertainers like Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears and others and have been a source of embarrassment for the health system for several years. UCLA said it has taken steps to improve protection of patient privacy rights.

Medical Schools Plug Holes in Conflict-of-Interest Policies

May 19, 2011, 12:01 p.m.

Reacting to ProPublica’s Dollars for Docs coverage, Stanford and other schools discipline doctors, rewrite policies and increase scrutiny of drug-industry ties.

Cardiac Society Draws Bulk of Funding From Stent Makers

May 13, 2011, 12:27 p.m.

The Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions got more than half its income in 2009 from medical device and pharmaceutical makers. This week, a study in JAMA questioned why more patients who received angioplasty and stents didn’t first receive recommended medications.

Heart Docs Reject Claims Of Bias From Industry Money

May 9, 2011, 12:05 p.m.

Many physicians attending the Heart Rhythm Society conference see little cause for concern in the heavy financial support drug and medical device industries provide to medical specialist societies, saying the ties are informative and beneficial to patient care.

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