Steve Brill, renowned journalist and entrepreneur, recently released an expansive 26,000 word investigation into the costly state of health care in America. His work was so impressive that ProPublica, an organization renowned for its longform journalism, invited him to partake in a brown bag lunch conversation with their staff.
During the discussion, Brill discussed the genesis of the piece, the importance of researching a subject before writing about it, the possibility of a book based on the investigation, his wife’s opinion on publishing it with The New Republic and how it eventually ended up with Time magazine. Brill also shared his thoughts on the changes affecting the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe and Time Inc., and whether ad revenue would be enough for news organizations to remain viable. Lastly, he discussed the qualities he looks for when hiring reporters.
On March 7th, journalist and entrepreneur Steve Brill visited ProPublica for a brown bag lunch talk. His deep dive investigation into health care spending and hospital billing practices, titled “Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us,” had made a substantial impact. We wanted to ask him questions about his piece and the state of the media.
During the conversation, Brill discussed the success of his article and the potential of a viable business model for journalism. He noted the importance of the facts in informing policy debates and the need to figure out how to make good journalism pay. He also spoke of his experience giving a talk to the marketing department at Time Magazine and the success of their iPad subscriptions in the wake of his article.
Brill also discussed the need to take apart policy debates and investigate the facts on the ground, citing the example of the sequester. He concluded by expressing his hope that his article would contribute to the debate and not lead to him testifying in Congress.
Having no prior knowledge of the subject, Steve Brill was not intimidated to dive in and ask all the questions he needed to understand. He taught his reporters the same, and with Connie Bruck’s Mike Milken piece, she knew nothing about what a junk bond was. But Brill encouraged her to ask questions and figure it out. He himself had no knowledge of CPT codes and other jargon, but he was not afraid to learn.
When discussing the reaction from Memorial Sloan Kettering, Brill noted that they were glad he included MD Anderson, which came off worse. He also noted that the hospital staff wakes up every morning to do good work, and that the industry has been allowed to drift into its current state with heavy lobbying. He noted that hospitals make more money on gauze pads than charity dinners, and that they maintain political support by providing a bill that appears to be a great deal.
When asked about solutions, Brill noted that he did not want his reporting to be overshadowed by a solution, but he did hint at the idea of Medicare for all or the option to buy into Medicare even if you’re lower than 65. He noted that the right critique is that if everyone had skin in the game, prices would come down, but he argued that this has not been the case with the 40-50 million Americans without insurance. He also argued that single payer for everyone is a logical idea.
Investigating the American healthcare system can be a daunting task. However, journalist Steven Brill took on the challenge and wrote a groundbreaking article to uncover the inefficiencies of the system. He spoke to hundreds of people, read numerous reports and analyzed data to gain a better understanding of the system. He found that the insurance sector was a major contributor to the overspend and that the private insurance sector in the US alone was worth $200 billion. Brill also discovered that Medicare was far more efficient than private insurance companies due to its specific productivity standards and competitive bidding. He was also surprised to find out that, despite the high profits of hospitals, many community hospitals were closing due to the larger hospitals locking up doctors and taking away their market share. Brill’s investigation is a testament to the power of research and determination.
When the Washington-based publication approached him with the idea of writing a long-form piece for their launch issue, Brill was intrigued. After discussing the opportunity with his wife, who serves as his business partner and general counsel, he decided to take on the project. His family, however, were less than enthusiastic about the decision, questioning the value of the piece and the publication’s ability to reach a wide audience.
Despite their doubts, Brill was determined to support the magazine, which promised to hire more journalists and provide a different kind of long-form journalism than the typical Washington publication. He was further encouraged when the magazine’s editors, Chris Hughes and Frank Foer, assured him they would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a PR campaign to promote the piece.
However, the night before the article was due to close, Hughes called Brill with unexpected news: the magazine had secured an exclusive interview with the President of the United States in the Oval Office. Although Hughes was keen to feature the interview on the cover, Brill was skeptical. He cited his own experience of interviewing the President, noting that the conversation rarely made it into the news cycle and that it would be difficult to get the President to admit anything newsworthy. In the end, Brill’s article was featured on the cover of the magazine’s launch issue.
The President of the United States was recently in the Oval Office, and the news of his visit quickly spread to several publications. Time Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, and the usual suspects were all eager to feature the story, with some offering to dedicate their entire issue to it. However, The New Republic decided not to run it.
When asked about the prospects of Time Magazine and the Wall Street Journal, Steve Brill opined that people who supply valuable information will get paid for it. He noted that the Times and the Washington Post have the news story the next day, and that Time Magazine’s traditional role was to tell readers what the President had for dinner and what was discussed.
Brill also discussed the difficulty of relying on advertising revenue, noting that the unlimited supply of page views keeps CPMs low. He shared a story from his previous enterprise, the retinal scan company, which taught him a lot about what was going on with ad revenue.
Ultimately, Brill believes that people will pay for good journalism, and that families in Lancaster, Pennsylvania will pay for coverage of their local high school sports team, as well as coverage of what’s going on at the planning board and city hall. He concluded that if people don’t start getting paid for their content, they won’t have a business model.
In the business world, targeting the right audience is key to success. Steve Brill, founder of Court TV and American Lawyer, has a knack for finding the most effective way to reach potential customers. He and his team developed a plan to create a strip ad across the bottom of the business section of the Cincinnati Enquirer, as well as a banner ad on the front page of the business section of the Cincinnati Enquirer’s website.
In addition, they utilized Kayak, a sophisticated travel site, and the Weather Channel for people in Cincinnati, in order to target those interested in flying to the city. The ad would only appear when someone was buying a plane ticket to or from Cincinnati.
Brill soon discovered that the more targeted the advertisement, the more effective it was. For instance, a full page ad in Vanity Fair for Johnny Walker Scotch was not as successful as buying advertising from air travel sites such as Orbitz and Expedia.
Brill also has a knack for recruiting talented journalists. He often hired young people with little experience, but he was able to train them to do the hard work. He also believes in giving people an opportunity, and if they get hired away, he uses that to hire other people.
It is clear that Brill’s approach to advertising and recruiting has been successful. His methods are a great example of how to target the right audience and hire talented people.
