Prescriber Checkup

May 11, 9:10 p.m.

Medicare’s popular prescription-drug program now serves more than 35 million people, but the names of prescribers and the drugs they choose have never previously been public. Use this tool to find and compare doctors and other top prescribers in 2010.

Medicare Drug Program Fails to Monitor Prescribers, Putting Seniors and Disabled at Risk

May 11, 9:06 p.m.

Prescription data obtained by ProPublica shows wide use of antipsychotics, narcotics and other drugs dangerous for older adults, but Medicare officials say it’s not their job to look for unsafe prescribing or weed out doctors with troubled backgrounds.

Eight Ways to Strengthen Medicare’s Drug Benefit

May 11, 8:54 p.m.

Former government officials, analysts and researchers say Medicare could improve oversight of its Part D drug benefit with these steps.

Dollars for Docs Mints a Millionaire

March 11, 11 a.m.

New data show drugmakers’ payments to hundreds of thousands of doctors, and some have made well over $500,000.

About the Dollars for Docs Data

March 11, 11 a.m.

Details behind our drug company money database.

Feds to Publicize Drug and Device Company Payments to Doctors Next Year

Feb. 1, 5:25 p.m.

After a long delay, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published final rules for the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, which would bring transparency to financial relationships between physicians and industry.

High-Prescribing Chicago Psychiatrist Faces Federal Fraud Suit

Nov. 15, 2012, 6:51 p.m.

Dr. Michael Reinstein, subject of a 2009 investigation by ProPublica and The Chicago Tribune, is accused of taking kickbacks while providing antipsychotics to thousands of indigent nursing home patients.

The Outlook for “Obamacare” in Two Maps

Nov. 8, 2012, 10:30 a.m.

How states handle Medicaid and new insurance exchanges will determine if President Obama’s re-election victory gives his healthcare overhaul a boost.

Why Can’t Medicine Seem to Fix Simple Mistakes?

July 20, 2012, 10:37 a.m.

The death of 12-year-old Rory Staunton from septic shock prompted NYU’s Langone Medical Center to revamp its emergency room procedures to address a startling lapse. History shows that the profession is unlikely to learn from this mistake.

Patient Died at New York VA Hospital After Alarm Was Ignored

May 15, 2012, 2:06 p.m.

The Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General again found problems with the care provided by nurses in a cardiac monitoring unit at the VA hospital in Manhattan.

American Pain Foundation Shuts Down as Senators Launch Investigation of Prescription Narcotics

May 8, 2012, 8:57 p.m.

Sens. Baucus and Grassley demand evidence of financial support from the drug industry to nonprofit groups that advocate use of opioid painkillers, including the newly defunct American Pain Foundation.

Senate Committee Investigates Marketing of Painkillers

May 8, 2012, 8:57 p.m.

VA Nurses Scrutinized After Patient Deaths in Two States

April 30, 2012, 12:19 p.m.

A review of records at 29 Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals found that some facilities didn’t keep proper track of their nurses’ skills or competency.

Allergan Erases Doctor Payment Records

Feb. 1, 2012, 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, 2012, 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, 2012, 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.