1. Provide the title of your story or series and the names of the journalists involved.
Electronic Medical Records by Fred Schulte and Emma Schwartz
2. List date(s) this work was published or aired.
January through December 2010
3. Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
This unique multimedia project assigned senior reporter Schulte and staff reporter Schwartz to investigate the federal government's plan to spend billions of dollars in stimulus money to help doctors and hospitals switch from paper records to electronic ones. The project drew national attention to challenges officials face in computerizing medical records from privacy concerns to questions about the safety of these systems. The team produced a mix of print articles, video and interactive elements to tell stories.
4. Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
The government office responsible for the electronic health records program has repeatedly refused to make public seemingly routine documents or at times produce officials for interviews. We were required to
file numerous FOIA requests to get even a basic list of people working on the government's office heading up this program. We had to develop sources and pursue leads with uncommon tenacity.
5. Explain types of human sources used.
We developed a network of sources within the industry, government, academia and patient advocacy groups that helped guide us through this complex subject matter
6. Results (if any).
Many others relied on our reporting.
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.
No corrections of challenges to the accuracy of the reports
8. Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
We started by going to public meetings and talking with as many experts as we could as well as developing an email list and developing other sources via Twitter.