May 2014 Archive
Treatment Tracker
Medicare recently released, for the first time, details on 2012 payments to individual doctors and other health professionals serving the 46 million seniors and disabled in its Part B program. Part B covers services as varied as office visits, ambulance mileage, lab tests, and the doctor’s fee for open-heart surgery. Use this tool to find and compare providers.
Top Billing: Meet the Docs who Charge Medicare Top Dollar for Office Visits
Medicare paid for more than 200 million office visits for established patients in 2012. Overall, health professionals classified only 4 percent as complex enough to command the most expensive rates. But 1,800 providers billed at the top level at least 90 percent of the time, a ProPublica analysis found. Experts question whether the charges are legitimate.
Geithner Book: ‘I Should Have Paid More Attention’ to Citigroup’s Woes
The former treasury secretary says his close ties to ex-Citi executive Robert Rubin ‘tempered my skepticism’ about the bank’s health in the years before the financial crisis hit.
Why Don’t We Know How Many People Are Shot Each Year in America?
Has nonfatal gun violence increased or decreased over the past 10 years? No one really knows.
In Fracking Hotbed, a Muted Approach to Regulation
In Ohio, where gas drilling is booming and toxic waste abundant, legislators acted modestly to address concerns about public safety.
Four Ways You Can Seek Back Pay for an Unpaid Internship
Think you’re entitled to be paid for your unpaid internship? Here are resources you should know about.
Weak Sanction for Sprinter Gay Signals Change in Anti-Doping Tactics
Anti-doping investigators say they would rather trade leniency for information on coaches and other athletes involved in doping
Death Penalty Report Cites Value of Taping Interrogations
A report advocating death penalty reforms finds that false confessions in capital cases can be limited by recording the questioning of suspects.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Plants
Last week, news apps developers from ProPublica participated in a "Future of Food" hackathon sponsored by National Geographic.
Privacy Tools: Encrypt What You Can
Here are some techniques that anybody can use to protect their privacy online.
After Pledge of Sunlight, Gov. Cuomo Officials Keep Their Email in the Shadows
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo entered office promising unprecedented transparency, but his aides' use of email offers quite a different picture
Cheat Sheet: The Tyson Gay File
The web of dubious connections, suspect medicine and outsize risks behind America’s top sprinter’s failed drug test and ruined reputation.
Secret To Success: a Derby Win and Racing’s Doping Addiction
Fifty years after the 1964 Kentucky Derby, revisiting the race and its implications for drugs in the Sport of Kings.
Big Banks, Business and Butter: Highlights From Our Q&A on Corporate Impunity
Reporter Jesse Eisinger offers his thoughts on the lack of white-collar prosecutions, journalism and the Green Bay Packers.
