Provide names of other journalists involved.
Glenn Howatt, computer assisted reporting Dave Hage, editor
List date(s) this work was published or aired.
April 28, April 29, May 16, 2012
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
Even before Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson sued Accretive Health Inc. for violating state consumer and patient privacy laws, Star Tribune reporters Maura Lerner and Tony Kennedy had begun investigating the company in 2011 – disclosing that it was primarily a bill collector serving Fairview Hospitals, not a health-care consultant, and documenting that an Accretive employee who lost a laptop computer with private patient medical data was not authorized to have unencrypted patient information. After the attorney general sued, in 2012, Lerner and Kennedy dug in again. They documented that two top executives of the Fairview hospital organization had personal and financial ties to Accretive even as they negotiated consulting contracts with the firm. They then went beyond the attorney general’s court filings to find Fairview patients who had been accosted by bill collectors while awaiting medical care – sometimes in the emergency room – and who went on the record to describe in painful detail the abusive tactics used by Fairview and Accretive, and contradicting claims of innocence by the consulting firm. Finally, Lerner and Kennedy uncovered a cache of internal Fairview emails, which revealed that, contrary to the claims of Fairview management and Accretive executives, nurses and physicians had complained for months that the company’s aggressive debt-collection tactics were interfering with medical care and even driving away patients who sought treatment.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
Tony Kennedy worked off six volumes of court documents filed by the attorney general to identify patients who would go on the record, then used SEC filings to document the financial ties between Fairview executives and Accretive Health Inc.
Explain types of human sources used.
Maura Lerner worked her deep list of Minneapolis physicians to find Fairview doctors and nurses who would go on the record to describe Accretive’s bill collection tactics, refer her to patients willing to go on the record, and furnish internal emails describing conditions inside the hospitals.
Results:
In May 2012, the Fairview hospital system severed its ties wtih Accretive Health and two weeks later fired CEO Mark Eustis, the executive who hired Accretive in the first place. In the summer of 2012, Accretive signed a consent agreement with Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson, promising not to do business in the state for at least two years.
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.
SEC filings and other financial documents often contain tiny details with telling consequences – such as overlapping boards of directors or consulting arrangements that create conflicts of interest.