List date(s) this work was published or aired.
11-Jul-11
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
A small hospital unit for geriatric mental health patients closed down at a local hospital. This could have been a 10-inch inside story, but an exploration of the shutdown showed a national trend through the eyes of the last patient on the unit. Poor, older people with mental health related issues are growing in number but having a harder time finding care. Shrinking Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements are shutting them out of traditional care, leaving families trying to cobble together care for them through assisted living facilities and emergency room care. But those resources are shrinking as well because government insurance doesn’t cover the cost of care.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
Hospital documents, Medicaid/Medicare reimbursement information, studies from the National Library of Medicine
Explain types of human sources used.
The psychiatrist on the unit was instrumental in hooking me up with the last patient to be discharged from the unit. Her family gave a personal journey through an issue that growing numbers of people will face as America ages.
Results:
Tons of emails from people who are facing the same dilemma. Medicare doesn’t pay for assisted living care, and many facilities turn away Medicaid patients because the reimbursements don’t cover the cost of care.
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.
No.
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Don’t just rewrite the hospital press release about a unit closing. Seek out someone who knows the inside story, say a psychiatrist who used to work there, and try to hook up with patients who once used the facility. Look at the bigger issues at play.