Big Changes in Fine Print of Some 2015 Obamacare Plans

A ProPublica analysis found that many health insurance plans offered in the federal Affordable Care Act marketplace are changing their benefits heading into 2015. Consumers have until Dec. 15 to switch plans before they are automatically re-enrolled.

Deadly Force, in Black and White

A ProPublica analysis of killings by police shows outsize risk for young black males.

What We've Learned From Four Years of Diving Into Dollars for Docs

Payments from pharmaceutical companies touch hundreds of thousands of doctors. The 17 companies we've tracked spent $1.4 billion in 2013 alone. Here are our top five takeaways from following all that money.

How New York and Illinois Curb a Key Labor Violation While Other States Fall Short

The states have passed hard-nosed laws and taken an aggressive tack toward employers who misclassify independent contractors.

How We Analyzed Medicare Part B Data

Using recently released Medicare data, we examined how doctors and other health professionals billed for office visits, one of the most common services patients receive. We found some doctors who billed for the most costly, most complex visits almost exclusively and charged top rates far more than their peers.

Top Billing: Meet the Docs who Charge Medicare Top Dollar for Office Visits

Medicare paid for more than 200 million office visits for established patients in 2012. Overall, health professionals classified only 4 percent as complex enough to command the most expensive rates. But 1,800 providers billed at the top level at least 90 percent of the time, a ProPublica analysis found. Experts question whether the charges are legitimate.

Double Dip: Doctors Paid to Advise, Promote Drug Companies That Fund Their Research

Research has been seen as less objectionable than other forms of interactions with drug companies, but 10 percent of researchers have multiple ties among the nine companies ProPublica analyzed. That raises questions about doctors’ impartiality.

As Full Disclosure Nears, Doctors’ Pay for Drug Talks Plummets

As transparency increases and blockbuster drugs lose patent protection, drug companies have dramatically scaled back payments to doctors for promotional talks. This fall, all drug and medical device companies will be required to report payments to doctors.

Introducing the ProPublica Data Store

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.