Calif. adopts strict rehab rules for medical workers
ProPublica reporters Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein have filed a report (Los Angeles Times version, ProPublica version) on the fallout from their work exposing failures in California’s nurse rehab program.
The state has adopted strict new rules governing drug abusers in the health care industry, requiring that those in the rehab program be tested more than 100 times in the first year, and pulling them from practice immediately should a relapse be detected.
In addition, public Web sites will now list any restrictions to their licenses, “easing the long-standing confidentiality protections that have shielded participants and kept their patients in the dark.”
‘Prescription for Disaster’ reporter wins Livingston
Filed under: Health journalism, Hot Health Headline
John Dickerson, a 26-year-old reporter for the Phoenix New Times, won the Livingston Award for Young Journalists in the local reporting category for stories about the Arizona Medical Board’s lax rules regarding physicians’ drug abuse.
Dickerson’s investigation revealed the state’s five-year monitoring period for physicians who had entered rehab for substance abuse to be inadequate, as a high percentage of those allowed to practice medicine (75 percent of a 20-physician total) relapsed after the monitoring window had expired.
Other stories in the award-winning series include:
-
Health Journalism 2010, AHCJ's annual conference, features a world-class program with story ideas, sources, stronger reporting skills, chances to meet newsmakers and network with other journalists.
- Health and education: Covering these intersecting beats
- Reporting on the business of health care
- Health reporting resources for journalists on state and local government beats
- Shortened Lives: How location, lifestyle affect health
- Covering a complex story for the long haul
- Aging in the 21st Century: Presentations and tip sheets
- AHCJ calls for better information from Joint Commission Web site
