Investigations
Taxpayers were overcharged for patient meds. Then came the lawyers.
Shalina Chatlani examined the health care system in Mississippi as a part of The New York Times’s Local Investigations Fellowship. This story cannot be republished. In 2018, when Mike DeWine was Ohio’s attorney general, he began investigating an obscure corner of the health care industry. He believed that insurers were inflating prescription drug prices through […]
Missouri Rep. Cori Bush denies using tax dollars for personal security as DOJ investigates
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating how Missouri Democratic Rep. Cori Bush spends campaign funds, according to a statement the congresswoman released Tuesday. “Since before I was sworn into office, I have endured relentless threats to my physical safety and life,” Bush said. “As a rank-and-file member of Congress I am not […]
How Walmart’s financial services became a fraud magnet
This story was originally published by ProPublica. Christy Browne was in a panic. The man on the phone said he was from the FBI. He warned her that drug traffickers had obtained her Social Security number and were using it to launder money. He said the FBI needed money to catch them. “They told me […]
Arkansas declines to release police officer database, preventing public oversight of problem cops
When new officials took on the oversight of Arkansas law enforcement officers under Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders early this year, they made keeping bad cops off the street a focus. They said they adopted new processes and safeguards intended to prevent problem officers from hopping from department to department and have even looked at individuals […]
Former Arkansas Medical Board chairman arrested on felony fraud charges
Dr. Brian Hyatt, the former chairman of the Arkansas State Medical Board, was arrested Monday on a warrant related to felony Medicaid fraud charges. Hyatt resigned from the board earlier this year in the face of ongoing state and federal investigations and his suspension from Medicaid. A warrant issued Monday repeats many, but also adds […]
Survivors of wilderness therapy camps describe trauma, efforts to end abuses
In 2007, 17-year-old Sarah Stusek woke up at 4 a.m. The lights were mysteriously turned on. Her phone was gone. She looked up to see a man and a woman hovering over her on either side of the bed. They told her to get dressed and that they were taking her somewhere. They didn’t explain […]
Sex, therapy, isolation: Concerns pile up in Arkansas’ juvenile lockups
Kids in Arkansas’ youth lockups over the last year were sexually assaulted, denied access to requisite therapy services and improperly isolated for extended periods, an Advocate investigation has found. A guard sexually abused two minors at a west Arkansas facility. Some children have had to spend more time incarcerated than planned due to a lack […]
Former chairman resigns from Arkansas Medical Board facing scrutiny in state, federal probes
Northwest Arkansas psychiatrist Dr. Brian Hyatt resigned from the State Medical Board last week, two months after he stepped down as chairman. Hyatt’s resignation — confirmed by records obtained under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act — comes as he is under investigation by state and federal authorities. The scope of the criminal probes is […]
Lawsuits pile up against former Arkansas Medical Board chairman at center of fraud probe
Patients have flooded the former chairman of the Arkansas State Medical Board with lawsuits since his suspension from Medicaid and resignation as head of the regulatory body over doctors. When an Advocate investigation first revealed questions about Dr. Brian Hyatt’s billing practices, two former patients had sued the Northwest Arkansas psychiatrist over false imprisonment, battery […]
Northwest Health to repay Arkansas $1 million in Medicaid settlement
A Northwest Arkansas hospital chain must repay $1.1 million to the state Medicaid program over the former State Medical Board chairman’s billing practices. The settlement is the latest development in the Medicaid fraud investigation against Dr. Brian Hyatt, a Northwest Arkansas psychiatrist. State investigators reviewed medical records and hundreds of hours of surveillance footage before […]
Clarence Thomas secretly accepted luxury trips from a billionaire GOP donor
In late June 2019, right after the U.S. Supreme Court released its final opinion of the term, Justice Clarence Thomas boarded a large private jet headed to Indonesia. He and his wife were going on vacation: nine days of island-hopping in a volcanic archipelago on a super yacht staffed by a coterie of attendants and […]
Arkansas psychiatrist suspected of fraud steps down from chairman position on medical board
Dr. Brian Hyatt, suspended from Medicaid and under investigation for health care fraud, has resigned as chairman of the Arkansas State Medical Board. In a special meeting Thursday, the board voted to accept Hyatt’s resignation but allow him to remain on the board as a non-executive member. Vice Chairman Dr. Rhys Branman, a Little Rock […]