DOCTORS QUIT? Is the Wall Street Journal becoming Faux News?
As Judy Lieberman of the Columbia Journalism Review reported on August 12th, the Wall Street Journal had printed a story called “More Doctors Steer Clear of Medicare: Some Doctors Opt Out of Program” on July 29, 2013, that last year, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 9,539 physicians opted out of Medicare, up from 3,700 opting out in 2009. [A four-year period of time]
Dan Diamond of California Healthline looked at the same figures from the same source. What the Journal didn’t report is that also per CMS, the number of physicians who agreed to accept Medicare patients continues to grow year-over-year, from 705,568 in 2012 to 735,041 in 2013. [A one-year period of time]
A one percent drop of physicians wouldn’t be shocking given aging, retirement, sickness and death of physicians in the general population. But it is “shocking” if you write the story from an angle that sensationalizes and purposely attempts to mislead – not shocking that professionals get old and retire – but shocking that the WSJ is in danger of becoming a hack rag disguised as legitimate journalism.