Medicare’s Failure to Track Doctors Wastes Billions on Name-Brand Drugs

The failure to track doctors who shun cheaper generics racks up huge costs for taxpayers in Medicare Part D, which fills one of every four U.S. prescriptions.

A Rap Sheet For Medicare’s Prescription Drug Program

An update on the new events since we published our Prescriber Checkup investigation.

Senator Asks States If They Alert Medicare to Problem Physicians

Citing a ProPublica investigation, Iowa Republican Charles Grassley said that if Medicaid and Medicare don’t share information on bad doctors, patients could be at risk.

Top Medicare Official: ‘We Can and Should Do More' to Oversee Drug Plan

Under pressure, Medicare's director tells a Senate panel the agency will intensify the search for abusive prescribing patterns and undertake other reforms.

Top Medicare Prescribers Rake In Speaking Fees From Drugmakers

Pay-to-prescribe is illegal, but doctors say they haven’t been influenced by the money they get for promoting drugs they also prescribe to large numbers of their patients.

Not Authorized to Prescribe Drugs? Medicare Pays Anyway.

Massage therapists, athletic trainers, interpretersand others who aren’t allowed to write prescriptions apparently issued at least417,000 under Medicare.

Inspector General Faults Medicare for Not Tracking 'Extreme' Prescribers

Echoing a ProPublica investigation, a report finds hundreds of doctors with questionable and potentially dangerous prescribing patterns. In a response, Medicare says it will step up monitoring and review the list for fraud or abuse.

Eight Ways to Strengthen Medicare’s Drug Benefit

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

How We Analyzed Medicare’s Drug Data

ProPublica obtained Medicare Part D data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) under the Freedom of Information Act. Here follows more information about the data and how we analyzed it.

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

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.

Has Obama Kept His Open-Government Pledge?

In his first term, President Obama promised that government would “do business in the light of day,” but skeptics say the record is mixed.

At Some Schools, Achievement Lags Behind Opportunity

Data show that, in some states, Advanced Placement exam passing rates remain lower in schools with more poor students.

Find Voting Rights Violations in Nursing Homes

Not all long-term care residents get to exercise their right to vote. Dozens of nursing homes have violated residents’ voting rights. Find out more using our Nursing Home Inspect database.

Parsing Presidential Pardons

How ProPublica Analyzed Pardon Data

Presidential Pardons Heavily Favor Whites

To avoid repeating a scandal like his predecessor’s, George W. Bush gave career lawyers in the Justice Department far-reaching authority to choose who got presidential pardons. The result: Whites are nearly four times as likely as minorities to win a pardon, even when the type of crime and severity of sentence are taken into account.