1. Provide the title of your story or series and the names of the journalists involved.
Grand Junction healthcare is a model of low cost and high quality. Editors: Ann Imse, Cara DeGette, Joe Mahoney. Reporter: Bill Scanlon. Videojournalist: Sonya Doctorian Web manager: Drew Jaynes. Photojournalist: Robert Tonsing
2. List date(s) this work was published or aired.
Feb. 21 – 25, 2010
3. Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
The healthcare system in Grand Junction, Co., is one of the highest-quality and lowest-cost in the nation. In short, it is healthcare reform that works. Colorado Public News explored what Grand Junction is doing to achieve such amazing results, in a five-part series with text, video, photos, and charts. The package includes interactive charts showing the quality and cost of healthcare in 300 cities around the nation.
4. Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
CPN worked with the Dartmouth Atlas on Healthcare to obtain data we used to create the interactive charts on quality and cost of healthcare in 300 cities. CPN also worked with Colorado state health authorities on other statistics.
5. Explain types of human sources used.
Human sources included physicians and nurses in Grand Junction, employees of major insurer, hospital, physician clinic, clinic for uninsured, hospice, patients and patient families, skeptics of Grand Junction's success locally and nationally, other experts at the state and national level.
6. Results (if any).
Package was picked up and used in full by the Los Angeles Times website, in part by PBS NewsHour, the Huffington Post, Kaiser Health News websites, Studio 12 news program on Colorado Public Television. This detailed reporting on what exactly Grand Junction is doing right led to increased attention of national reformers on the successful attributes of the Grand Junction system that could be duplicated elsewhere in the nation. Officials from Grand Junction are now involved in implementing healthcare reform nationally and in Colorado. The package also helped Colorado Public News win a grant for three years of healthcare reporting for 14 news media in Colorado.
7. Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
We have not been notified of any errors. Currently we are following up the original, now year-old package with an interview with a key spokesman for the Grand Junction system tying the reforms there to national healthcare reform.
8. Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Our reporting provides an excellent starting point for healthcare reporters across the nation. We advise them to look at our lists of 300 major cities and how they rank for quality and cost. Then explore why your city ranks as it does, high or low.