How data-driven journalism revealed racial disparities in U.S. nursing homes
In 2009, while at The Chicago Reporter, I took a deep look at racial disparities in the quality of care in nursing homes in Chicago, Illinois and nationally. For a project that the Center for Public Integrity published in November 2014, I brought together Medicaid cost reports, self-reported staffing figures, testimonies from advocates and lawyers, and personal stories from nursing home residents and their families to address a simple question: how much care is a loved one actually receiving at a nursing home? The conclusion? Nursing homes serving minorities offer a lot less care than those predominately housing whites.
Related:Â Track discrepancies in nursing home staff levels
Related:Â Analysis shows widespread discrepancies in staffing levels reported by nursing homes
Story genesis
Related:Â Poorly rated nursing homes got HUD-guaranteed mortgages anyway
Related:Â Nursing homes serving minorities offering less care than those housing whites
The three-part series began with a leftover.
Related:Â Methodology for our nursing homes investigation
David Donald, then the data editor at the Center for Public Integrity, encouraged me to locate cost reports for all 50 states in order to tell a national story.
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Copyright 2014 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
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