SEATTLE — Two Seattle Times investigative reporters will be honored by The Washington Coalition for Open Government for their use of state and federal transparency laws to expose a culture of money over care at Swedish Hospital in Seattle.  WCOG will honor two Seattle Times investigative reporters with a Key Award for their work on “Quantity of Care,” a Times Special Investigation that relied on public records to expose potentially dangerous practices designed to move patients in and out of the hospital in record numbers.

Mike Baker and Justin Mayo will be recipients of a WCOG Key Award for their determined use of public records to examine care at the Providence system facility. The article mentions the use of public records.

“The Times spent a year examining more than 10,000 pages of records in four states, analyzing federal and state databases containing millions of records, and interviewing more than 100 people, including more than 30 current and former Cherry Hill medical staffers.”

“These two outstanding journalists used the public records laws in Washington and other states to provide critical information to its readers about patient care,” noted WCOG Communications Director, Juli Bunting. “Our board was very enthusiastic about presenting this key award to Mike and Justin for some outstanding use of public records.”

The Washington Coalition for Open Government presents Key Awards to individuals and organizations throughout the year for using or furthering the state’s Open Public Meetings Act/Public Records Act. The Key Award will be presented at the Seattle Times on Thursday, March 16 by President Toby Nixon.