Tag Archives: financial

Series focuses on stressed rural hospitals that may need to close

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empty-hospital

Photo: Naoki Takano via Flickr

Given all the concern about the failure of rural hospitals, it may seem counterintuitive that some hospitals in rural America may need to close. In multipart series for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, investigative news reporter Yamil Berard found last year that some rural hospitals in Georgia had serious deficiencies.

Those deficiencies included significantly low occupancy rates, stiff competition from other hospitals, dwindling populations in their service areas, poor management and faulty decision-making, she reported. Continue reading →

Joseph Burns (@jburns18), an independent journalist who resides in Brewster, Massachusetts, is AHCJ’s topic leader on health reform. He welcomes questions and suggestions and tip sheets at joseph@healthjournalism.org.

Financial abuse of elders can wipe out savings, take away independence

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Photo: jridgewayphotography via Flickr

Financial fraud is a business which is both pervasive and problematic. Older people can be at high risk for this form of elder abuse from many sides — trusted others, friends, family members, neighbors, colleagues, or caregivers.

It can be a crime of opportunity, or a well-planned, targeted scheme, and often goes undetected for months or even years. We all need to do our part to educate potential victims and help inoculate them about this issue, according to one expert at the recent AHCJ Journalism Workshop on Aging & Health. Continue reading →

Liz Seegert (@lseegert), is AHCJ’s topic leader on aging. Her work has appeared in NextAvenue.com, Journal of Active Aging, Cancer Today, Kaiser Health News and other outlets. She is a senior fellow at the Center for Health Policy and Media Engagement at George Washington University and co-produces the HealthCetera podcast.

Tips for telling the stories of rural hospital closures

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Photo: Naoki Takano via Flickr

Bram Sable-Smith, who spent a year doing in-depth reporting on an endangered rural hospital in Pemiscot County, Mo., as part of an AHCJ Reporting Fellowship on Health Care Performance, did a tip sheet on how to report on the threat to rural hospitals, in the context of a wave of closures. Continue reading →

Contributing editor to Politico Magazine and former health care editor-at-large, Politico, Commonwealth Fund journalist in residence and assistant lecturer at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.