1. Provide the title of your story or series and the names of the journalists involved.
"Riverside County: Medi-Cal's Worst"
This is a joint entry from the California HealthCare Foundation Center for Health Reporting and the Riverside Press Enterprise.
John Gonzales, Senior Writer, California HealthCare Foundation Center for Health Reporting.
Lora Hines, Staff Writer, Riverside Press Enterprise.
2. List date(s) this work was published or aired.
Nov. 1, 2010.
3. Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
This three-part series, a partnership between the Center for Health Reporting and the Riverside Press Enterprise, exposed a weak link in the Health Policy promise of expanding health coverage to millions. The front door through which everyone will pass, the county welfare office, is already under siege. The story showed how one California county, Riverside, chronically failed to enroll Medicaid applicants on time, ignoring federal mandates as well as state sanctions. This has immediate and adverse impact for thousands of Medicaid applicants, some of whom require urgent access to health care. Especially disturbing in the case of Riverside County: the county's political leaders were not even aware it had repeatedly failed federal guidelines. But this has much broader application. If the social services office can't handle the current workload, how will it fare when millions more line up to be qualified for either expanded Medicaid or the exchange program? If California is any indications, county offices across the nation have their work cut out.
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 reporters dug up obscure state audits called Corrective Action Plans, and zeroed in on the California county with the worst record in the state of enrolling Medicaid applicants properly and on time. These were audits whose existence surprised even local political leaders and bureaucrats.
5. Explain types of human sources used.
For weeks the reporters hung out at crowded social service offices, interviewing applicants as they literally took a number and began the long process of enrollment.
6. Results (if any).
The reporters discovered that the state was allowing counties to report their own performance numbers, and that Riverside County's data weren't providing an accurate picture of their poor performance. They also found that, while the state had the ability to penalize poor performance, it never did. An official said, astoundingly, that that would only make things worse. The reporters wrote a separate story on the state's poor oversight performance. A county supervisor who was caught by surprise vowed to clean up the mess.
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.
John Gonzales is now embarked on a follow-up that assesses the federal government's commitment to ensuring that Medicaid recipients are given a fair shake when they enroll. This has considerable importance as the number of applicants will increase exponentially under Health Policy.
8. Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
The best way to tell an institutional story is through the eyes of the people hurt by the failure of the institution, in this case Medicaid applicants in California.