About 1.8 million Californians – primarily Latinos – live in low-income, unincorporated communities that lack sewers, clean drinking water, sidewalks, streetlights or gutters – infrastructure known to curb public health and safety risks. The U.S. Census Bureau only tracks some of them, and federal tallies of characteristics like income often diverge markedly from more localized surveys. Without hard numbers, advocates have found it difficult to argue effectively for change.
The USC Annenberg Dennis A. Hunt Fund for Health Journalism and California Watch commissioned tests to measure the Martin family’s exposure levels to dangerous metals and industrial byproducts. The results were delivered to the family on Jan. 31, 2011.
Prime Healthcare Services, a chain of 13 hospitals in Southern California and one in Shasta County, reports higher rates of several serious medical conditions than other California hospitals. At the same time, former doctors and employees of Prime say that chain owner Dr. Prem Reddy has urged doctors and medical coders to log those conditions, which pay a premium when treating elderly Medicare patients. Here's a primer on how we calculated hospitals' diagnosis rates.
Prime Healthcare Services acquired 11 California hospitals from 2005 to 2009. After Prime acquired each facility, the percentage of seniors with Medicare who were sent from the emergency room to the main hospital increased. Compare the Medicare admission rates at each hospital, before and after Prime Healthcare took ownership.
This map shows the location of hospitals with buildings that have a 10 to 32 percent chance of collapsing in an earthquake. Click on the links below to see more information about the 14 buildings located at these hospitals.
The attorney general has issued five violation notices against Rainbow Apparel stores and its 5-7-9 locations in California for repeatedly selling jewelry with lead levels that exceed legal limits. Find the store locations here.
Browse the low-risk C-section rates at 253 California hospitals. The highest rate is 47 out of 100 low-risk births at Los Angeles Community Hospital and the lowest rate is 7 at St. Helena Hospital Clearlake.
Explore in detail the 645 nursing homes that gained the most under a 2004 law designed to help hire more caregivers and boost wages. Examine each home's revenue under the new law, net income, staffing rates and staffing wages. Or sort through facilities in your neighborhood.
More people are becoming infected with MRSA at home or in their community. Track the increase by county or over time.
Which California county has been most affected by the swine flu? Track deaths and hospitalizations from April to January for most counties and some cities.
