Medicare’s Failure to Track Doctors Wastes Billions on Name-Brand Drugs
The failure to track doctors who shun cheaper generics racks up huge costs for taxpayers in Medicare Part D, which fills one of every four U.S. prescriptions.
A Rap Sheet For Medicare’s Prescription Drug Program
An update on the new events since we published our Prescriber Checkup investigation.
Senator Asks States If They Alert Medicare to Problem Physicians
Citing a ProPublica investigation, Iowa Republican Charles Grassley said that if Medicaid and Medicare don’t share information on bad doctors, patients could be at risk.
Top Medicare Official: ‘We Can and Should Do More' to Oversee Drug Plan
Under pressure, Medicare's director tells a Senate panel the agency will intensify the search for abusive prescribing patterns and undertake other reforms.
Top Medicare Prescribers Rake In Speaking Fees From Drugmakers
Pay-to-prescribe is illegal, but doctors say they haven’t been influenced by the money they get for promoting drugs they also prescribe to large numbers of their patients.
Not Authorized to Prescribe Drugs? Medicare Pays Anyway.
Massage therapists, athletic trainers, interpretersand others who aren’t allowed to write prescriptions apparently issued at least417,000 under Medicare.
Inspector General Faults Medicare for Not Tracking 'Extreme' Prescribers
Echoing a ProPublica investigation, a report finds hundreds of doctors with questionable and potentially dangerous prescribing patterns. In a response, Medicare says it will step up monitoring and review the list for fraud or abuse.
Eight Ways to Strengthen Medicare’s Drug Benefit
Former government officials, analysts and researchers say Medicare could improve oversight of its Part D drug benefit with these steps.
How We Analyzed Medicare’s Drug Data
ProPublica obtained Medicare Part D data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) under the Freedom of Information Act. Here follows more information about the data and how we analyzed it.