Lisa McGiffert

"They have so many more resources than us, with lobbyists and staff people who are watching these issues all over the country, every day."

"Cost of care has attracted a lot of attention, and it’s important that reporters cover it. But quality is just as important, more important really, and it contributes to cost."

"They wanted to be active partners in deciding where they lived and who cared for them."

"We need to know enough about the cost of medical harm."

"Maybe if patients knew, they wouldn’t see the doctor. Maybe they still would. But they are doing it with their eyes open."

"The objection is that, gee, this would be very uncomfortable for doctors. What does that tell you? Sometimes you need that kind of pressure."

"I have this sense that doctors as a group protect other doctors who are on probation or get in trouble because they think it might happen to them."

"Even when something gets done, it’s never done because the next year the industry, the hospitals, the medical device makers come in and try to erode any kind of progress made on the patients’ behalf."

"The activists stormed the Texas Capitol and took over the governor’s office and got arrested. They were out there. All of that influenced me."

"Physicians on probation are much more likely to require further discipline than physicians who were never disciplined."

"We were using data that had already been on state websites, but nobody had paid attention to it. Agencies are never going to do a media push when they publish these."

"Hospitals are ever-present in this work. They have lobbyists all over Congress and administration folks."