List date(s) this work was published or aired.
10/14/12: Back pain puts strain on pocketbooks
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
In the wake of a spinal meningitis outbreak linked to tainted epidural steroid injections, Alex Nixon explored the multi-billion-dollar industry for treating back pain. Steroid injections are a small part of that. He found that back pain remains a big problem for a majority of Americans, that spending more money doesn’t appear to make people better and that some experts question the effectiveness of the most expensive treatments, such as surgery.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
The Dartmouth Institute and the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality were invaluable for quantifying the components and size of the back pain industry. FOIA was not used.
Explain types of human sources used.
This story relied on extensive interviews with local and national experts, including physicians, insurance industry officials, national organization spokespeople, and academic researchers.
Results:
This report details the mammoth scope of the problem. Nearly every American adult will experience back pain at some point, and spending on treatments doubled in 10 years, from $15 billion in 1997 to $30 billion in 2007.
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 one challenged the accuracy of any aspect of the story. No corrections were published.
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Getting medical doctors to open up about their concerns about effectiveness of traditional medical treatments, such as pharmaceuticals, was key to this story.