Katie Thomas
@bykatiethomas.bsky.social
I’m an investigative health care reporter for the New York Times. Bio: https://www.nytimes.com/by/katie-thomas Have a tip? I’m on Signal at bykatiethomas.25, or send a secure tip here: https://www.nytimes.com/tips
Boston Scientific has struggled for years with pacemaker batteries that can fail unexpectedly, which has been linked to at least 7 deaths. Internal company records and a previously unpublished FDA inspection report helped me tell the story. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/b...
She Died After Her Pacemaker Battery Failed. Its Maker Knew of Problems for Years.
nytimes.com
Business is booming for CoreCivic, a for-profit operator of detention facilties. The company has secured hundred of millions of dollars in contracts, those detained there say that $$$ doesnt translate into care. Our story. @bykatiethomas.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/02/14/b...
Sick Detainees Describe Poor Care at Facilities Run by ICE Contractor
nytimes.com
A for-profit company, CoreCivic, operates many ICE detention centers, including the one in Texas that houses children. It has a checkered track record of providing medical care. With @jsgatnyt.bsky.social and Melena Ryzik. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/14/b...
Sick Detainees Describe Poor Care at Facilities Run by ICE Contractor
nytimes.com
NEW: A biotech company donated $5M to attend a March 1 dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. The company's co-owner brought a flier opposing a pending change limiting Medicare $ for his products. The next day, Trump posted the flier on Truth Social. The next month, the Medicare change was tabled.
Here's a gift link to the story (by Sarah Kliff, @bykatiethomas.bsky.social & me) showing a real world effect of Trump's pay-for-access operation. In this case, it benefited companies making a product that helps patients, but also that Medicare has dinged for “abusive pricing practices.”
Trump Delayed a Medicare Change After Health Companies’ Donations
nytimes.com
Ken Vogel@kenvogel.bsky.social · 12mo agoNEW: A biotech company donated $5M to attend a March 1 dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. The company's co-owner brought a flier opposing a pending change limiting Medicare $ for his products. The next day, Trump posted the flier on Truth Social. The next month, the Medicare change was tabled.
Acadia Healthcare’s CEO is getting a $1.8 million bonus for the extra work he will need to do to respond to federal inquiries into the company’s practices. The bonus comes after the stock lost 70 percent of its value. My story with @jsgatnyt.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/h...
Leaders of Mental Health Giant Promised Big Bonuses to Deal With Federal Investigations (Gift Article)
Acadia Healthcare’s chief executive was awarded a $1.8 million bonus to respond to “unprecedented governmental inquiries” into allegations of holding psychiatric patients against their will.
nytimes.com
New with @jsgatnyt.bsky.social: In 2018, a therapist was accused of sexually assaulting women at Timberline Knolls, a mental health facility outside Chicago owned by Acadia Healthcare. Back then, the company said it had made changes to "assure it won't happen again." www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/b...
Suicides and Rape at a Prized Mental Health Center
Timberline Knolls, a mental health center owned by Acadia Healthcare, skimped on staff. Then came a series of tragedies.
nytimes.com
Suicides and Rape at a Prized Mental Health Center. Timberline Knolls, a mental health center owned by Acadia Healthcare, skimped on staff. Then came a series of tragedies, by @jsgatnyt.bsky.social @bykatiethomas.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/b... via @nytimes.com
Suicides and Rape at a Prized Mental Health Center
Timberline Knolls, a mental health center owned by Acadia Healthcare, skimped on staff. Then came a series of tragedies.
nytimes.com
Trump delayed a Biden-era plan to restrict Medicare’s coverage of skin substitutes, which cost $10 billion in 2024. Trump had received a large campaign donation from a leading bandage seller and skewered the plan on social media. By Sarah Kliff and Katie Thomas www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/h...
Medicare Bleeds Billions on Pricey Bandages, and Doctors Get a Cut
Medicare spending on “skin substitutes” made of dried placenta has soared as doctors pocket lucrative discounts from sellers.
nytimes.com
If you want to understand the problem of "waste, fraud, and abuse" in federal health programs, you should read this great piece by Sarah Kliff and @bykatiethomas.bsky.social on scammy skin substitute companies. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/h...
Tiny bandages made of dried placentas are costing Medicare billions. With Sarah Kliff, I took a dive into the world of skin substitutes, which are used in a narrow slice of patients with wounds that won't heal, but cost Medicare more than ambulance rides and CT scans. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/h...
Medicare Bleeds Billions on Pricey Bandages, and Doctors Get a Cut
Medicare spending on “skin substitutes” made of dried placenta has soared as doctors pocket lucrative discounts from sellers.
nytimes.com
I'd like to hear from current and former employees at USDA-APHIS (esp PPQ & VS) and USDA-ARS. Happy to keep your identity confidential or even just talk off the record, if that's what you'd prefer. You can reach me at emily.anthes@nytimes.com or on Signal at emilyanthes.41
When drug companies lowered prices for common drugs like insulin, it ended up raising costs for patients at community health clinics. It’s another example of the upside-down world of drug pricing. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/16/h...
Insulin Prices Dropped. But Some Poor Patients Are Paying More. (Gift Article)
A law that coaxed companies to lower the price of drugs came with a little-known consequence: smaller discounts for low-income health clinics.
nytimes.com
For a decade, the DOJ delayed a winning criminal case against Philadelphia-based drug company Endo Health Solutions. That allowed Endo to vastly expand its narcotics empire and execute a corporate escape plan. New, from @propublica.org + @inquirer.com
Endo’s End Around: How One of the Nation’s Largest Opioid Makers Escaped a $7 Billion Federal Penalty
For a decade, the Justice Department delayed a winning criminal case against Philadelphia-based Endo Health Solutions. That allowed the company to vastly expand its narcotics empire and execute a corp...
propublica.org
Hospitals Gave Patients Meds During Childbirth, Then Reported Them For Positive Drug Tests www.themarshallproject.org/2024/12/11/p...
Hospitals Gave Them Meds During Childbirth. Why Did Patients Get In Trouble?
Mothers were reported after they were given medications used routinely for pain or in epidurals, to reduce anxiety or to manage blood pressure during cesarean sections.
themarshallproject.org
Acadia Healthcare is 1 of America’s largest chains of psychiatric hospitals. In 12 states where they operate—dozens of patients, employees & cops have alerted the authorities that Acadia was detaining people in ways that violated the law according to 9/1/24 NYT. Now this:
Katie Thomas@bykatiethomas.bsky.social · 2y agoNew: Acadia Healthcare runs the largest chain of methadone clinics, bringing in $1.3 billion since 2022. But @jsgatnyt.bsky.social and I found that its clinics are falsifying records and sometimes enrolling patients who are not addicted to opioids. www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/h...
Fraud and Fakery at the Largest Chain of Methadone Clinics in the U.S. Acadia Healthcare falsifies records at its methadone clinics and enrolls patients who aren’t addicted to #opioids, by @bykatiethomas.bsky.social @jsgatnyt.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/h... via @nytimes.com #addiction
Acadia Healthcare’s Methadone Clinics Face Fraud Complaints
Acadia Healthcare falsifies records at its methadone clinics and enrolls patients who aren’t addicted to opioids, a Times investigation found.
nytimes.com
I joined this app just to share this incredible new investigation into the fraud and fakery going on at the country’s largest chain of methadone clinics: www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/h... By the amazing @bykatiethomas.bsky.social and @jsgatnyt.bsky.social and edited by @davidenrich.bsky.social and me
Acadia Healthcare’s Methadone Clinics Face Fraud Complaints (Gift Article)
Acadia Healthcare falsifies records at its methadone clinics and enrolls patients who aren’t addicted to opioids, a Times investigation found.
nytimes.com
New: Acadia Healthcare runs the largest chain of methadone clinics, bringing in $1.3 billion since 2022. But @jsgatnyt.bsky.social and I found that its clinics are falsifying records and sometimes enrolling patients who are not addicted to opioids. www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/h...
Acadia Healthcare’s Methadone Clinics Face Fraud Complaints (Gift Article)
Acadia Healthcare falsifies records at its methadone clinics and enrolls patients who aren’t addicted to opioids, a Times investigation found.
nytimes.com