It wasn’t an original idea. Many other reporters flocked there too — either virtually or IRL. But I think because I went in with my sights set as much on the place as on the pandemic, I quickly realized COVID-19 was just a problem that would pass. For decades, people there had suffered some of the highest rates of diabetes, heart disease and obesity in the state. When I’d ask why, health care officials would point to poverty and poor diets — problems that plague people of color everywhere in America.
But Albany was different. Its dominant institution is a hospital: Phoebe Putney Memorial. And while Phoebe, like hospitals across the country, was making valiant efforts to save people from COVID-19, I wondered where it had been when it came to diabetes. Senior research reporter Doris Burke and I set out to answer that question, hoping it would help explain a defining and devastating American paradox. Our country has one of the most advanced health care systems in the world. Meanwhile, compared with people in other wealthy countries, we have more chronic illnesses and shorter lifespans.
Why?
Read the full series:
Part One: The Business of Care
The story of Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital — the dominant political and economic institution of Albany, Georgia — is the story of American health care.
Part Two: The Making of a Monopoly
The story of how Phoebe, founded in 1911 as a community hospital, becomes a sprawling health care system and wages a yearslong battle to eliminate its competition.
Part Three: Poor Grades, Poor Outcomes
Phoebe paid an exorbitant sum to acquire its crosstown rival and became Albany’s only hospital. But as the company’s debt increased, patients suffered.
Part Four: The Last Safety Net
As a community hospital, Phoebe’s mission is to care for people no matter their ability to pay. But in a town where the uninsured rate is twice the national average, even some Phoebe employees are unable to afford treatment.
Part Five: Too Big to Fight
When a well-off, widely respected pillar of the community and member of the hospital’s board can’t get the care he needs at Phoebe, it raises the question: Who can?
In response to questions, a Phoebe spokesperson accused ProPublica of intentionally excluding positive patient stories. “Most patients have positive experiences at Phoebe,” he said. “Ignoring that fact is wrong.” The former CEO of Phoebe Putney Health System and Phoebe’s former attorney did not respond to detailed lists of questions.
