Charleston biz reporter wins national award for covering patient debt

The Association of Health Care Journalists announced this week that Mary Katherine Wildeman, a business reporter at The Post and Courier, won a national investigative award for a story she wrote about patient debt in 2019.

Lauren Sausser of The Post and Courier writes, “Wildeman’s investigation, ‘Guilty no matter what,’ earned a second-place finish in the association’s investigative category for small publications with circulations of less than 100,000. An article published by the Richmond Times-Dispatch about the legal guardianship of vulnerable adults finished first in the category.

“More than 400 entries were submitted for the association’s annual awards across all categories.

“Wildeman’s article outlined how some South Carolina hospitals are using a loophole in state law to scoop millions of dollars a year from the pockets of the poorest of patients. It mostly takes place outside the courts and the public eye.”

Read more here.