Charles Ornstein

Drug coupons may save you money, but they’re keeping drug prices high. Here’s how.

June 11, 2018 at 9:51 p.m.

A few months back, after returning from a family vacation that involved lots of pool time, my 9-year-old son complained that his ear hurt. A Sunday morning trip to urgent...

Illinois leads Medicare billings for group therapy

June 17, 2018 at 12:30 p.m.

A few years ago, Illinois' Medicaid program for the poor noticed some odd trends in its billings for group psychotherapy sessions. Nursing home residents were being taken several times a...

Illinois leads Medicare billings for group therapy

May 14, 2019 at 1:15 a.m.

A few years ago, Illinois' Medicaid program for the poor noticed some odd trends in its billings for group psychotherapy sessions. Nursing home residents were being taken several times a...

Doctors charge Medicare top rates for office visits

August 25, 2021 at 12:00 a.m.

Office visits are the bread and butter of many physicians' practices. Medicare pays for more than 200 million of them a year, often to deal with routine problems like colds...

As full disclosure nears, doctors’ pay for drug talks plummets

May 14, 2019 at 12:40 a.m.

Some of the nation's largest pharmaceutical companies have slashed payments to health professionals for promotional speeches amid heightened public scrutiny of such spending, a new ProPublica analysis shows. Eli Lilly...

Knowing when to let go

August 19, 2019 at 2:14 a.m.

My father, sister and I sat in the near-empty Chinese restaurant, picking at our plates, unable to avoid the question that we'd gathered to discuss: When was it time to...

Knowing when to let go

May 13, 2019 at 11:32 p.m.

My father, sister and I sat in the near-empty Chinese restaurant, picking at our plates, unable to avoid the question that we'd gathered to discuss: When was it time to...

Two deaths, wildly different penalties

December 23, 2018 at 10:30 a.m.

— To see the federal government's inconsistent oversight of nursing homes, one needs only to look at what happened after two residents died — one in Texas, one in South...

Two deaths, wildly different penalties

August 23, 2021 at 8:06 p.m.

— To see the federal government's inconsistent oversight of nursing homes, one needs only to look at what happened after two residents died — one in Texas, one in South...

Two deaths, wildly different penalties

May 13, 2019 at 10:21 p.m.

— To see the federal government's inconsistent oversight of nursing homes, one needs only to look at what happened after two residents died — one in Texas, one in South...

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