Robin Fields
I’m a senior editor covering health, including the drug industry, insurance denials and reproductive care.
Need to Get in Touch?
I’m interested in hearing from patients, their families and those formerly or currently working in health care about practices that put lives at risk or abuse a system all of our lives depend on.
What I Cover
I’m covering health, including the drug industry, insurance denials and changes in access to reproductive care.
My Background
I was among the first reporters to join ProPublica in 2008, and I then went on to serve as the managing editor from 2013 to 2022 before returning to reporting. Stories I’ve reported or edited have won pretty much all the journalism awards there are. As a ProPublica reporter, I’ve written mostly about health, including stories on U.S. dialysis care, psychiatric hospitals, maternal mortality, health insurance denials and pricey prescription drugs. Before joining ProPublica, I was a reporter at the Los Angeles Times, where I investigated California’s guardianship system for incapacitated adults, and the Sun-Sentinel in South Florida, where I wrote about consumer scams as well as innumerable disasters, both natural and manmade.
Nine Ideas to Make Tylenol and Other Acetaminophen Drugs Safer
Scientists, regulators and manufacturers have come up with numerous proposals that could reduce the toll of deaths and injuries from one of America’s most popular drugs.
Celebrating Five Years at ProPublica
Five years later, many things have changed at and around ProPublica, but its mission to hold those in power accountable remains the same.
Lifting the Veil on Dangerous Prescribing
The release of Medicare Part D records changes the conversation about how practitioners prescribe drugs -- and indicates the government could do more to ensure they do so safely.
Updated: Dialysis Facility Tracker
ProPublica obtained data about the performance of more than 5,000 U.S. dialysis clinics. Our Dialysis Facility Tracker allows patients to compare clinics on such measures as patient survival, infection control, hospitalization rates and transplant rates.
Federal Grand Jury Probes Major Dialysis Provider
DaVita, the country’s second-largest dialysis provider, announced in a financial filing that a U.S. Attorney’s Office investigation into the company’s business practices is “preliminary.”
Feds to Follow ProPublica, Release Dialysis Clinic Data
Officials with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services told Sen. Grassley they are now providing Dialysis Facility Reports, statistical compilations on each of the nation's 5,000-plus dialysis clinics, to anyone upon request and are trying to add the reports to Medicare’s Dialysis Facility Compare website.
Led by California, Inspection Backlogs Weaken Dialysis Oversight
An investigation by ProPublica found that some states are failing to meet inspection targets for the nation’s more than 5,000 dialysis clinics. Patient advocates say the backlog increases risks for patients in a system that has one of the industrialized world’s highest mortality rates.