The story of PHA Healthcare didn't end when Maryland closed the program.

Though patients got new providers, many continued living in the same buildings, operated by the same people. Treatment was still over Zoom, lead by the very same overseas counselors.

www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/pu...

Maryland ended treatment at a troubled provider. For some, little has changed, @alissazhu.bsky.social reports. (via @thebaltimorebanner.com)

WE WON A PULITZER!

A big first for
@thebaltimorebanner.com &
@nytimes.com Local Investigations Fellowship.

Thank you to so many, especially those who trusted us with their stories, however painful or risky it may have been for them to share, because they knew it could make a difference.

“Just because he got high doesn’t mean his life doesn’t matter,” said the sister of Rodney Myers, one of 13 people whose deaths were connected to PHA Healthcare, a drug treatment program.

“He was somebody, he was special to me. He was my hero.”

www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/pu...

By @alissazhu.bsky.social: Their loved ones died while in drug treatment at PHA Healthcare. They still want answers. (📸: @jessicagallagher.bsky.social) (via @thebaltimorebanner.com)

Scam Medicaid once, shame on you. Scam Medicaid twice...?

This is the first case to come out of the state's crackdown on fraud among addiction and mental health providers. More than 100 more have been referred to investigators, health officials say www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/pu...

A Baltimore lawmaker read our story about PHA Healthcare and is now calling for better oversight of addiction treatment to prevent patient relapse and death www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/cr...

New: Discoveries of handmade weapons in Maryland prisons/Baltimore jails rose by 375% — an "extremely unusual" spike, report finds.
Prisoners are using the state's aging facilities to source raw materials (e.g. broken windows), corrections secretary says. www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/cr...

Very proud of our team for winning a Polk Award today for Local Reporting on the city's overdose crisis. This is a big moment for @thebaltimorebanner.com — which has not even been publishing for 3 years — and signals that we have the talent and ambition to execute journalism at the highest level.

It is an extraordinary honor to receive a George Polk Award in Local Reporting for our coverage of Baltimore's overdose crisis, published by @thebaltimorebanner.com and @nytimes.com Local Investigations Fellowship.
www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/lo...

So proud of @alissazhu.bsky.social & @jessicagallagher.bsky.social for the incredible reporting they put into this story. The 3rd investigative piece after a year+ of work, they dug deep into an addiction recovery program here in Baltimore: www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/pu...

People enter drug treatment at their most vulnerable, seeking help.

In Baltimore, the Country's overdose capitol, a provider took that responsibility and created an environment where patients routinely relapsed and died.

www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/pu...

In the past year of reporting on overdoses in Baltimore, a treatment program kept coming up. We looked into it:

At least 13 deaths deaths since 2022.
This year a mom died, then her baby starved.
It operated in the shadows & got paid millions by the state.

www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/pu...