Marshall Allen

Marshall Allen is an investigative journalist specializing in healthcare, known for exposing systemic issues in the U.S. health care system such as opaque pricing, quality control deficiencies, and patient safety failures. Before entering journalism, Allen spent five years in full-time ministry, including three years in Nairobi, Kenya, and holds a master's degree in theology. This background informed his approach to reporting, emphasizing transparency, accountability, and humane treatment within healthcare.

Allen's journalism career gained national attention at the Las Vegas Sun, where his series "Do No Harm: Hospital Care in Las Vegas," co-written with Alex Richards, received the Harvard Kennedy School Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, the Scripps Howard Foundation Award for Investigative Reporting, and a National Headliner Award. The series was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting. His healthcare coverage was recognized by the Association of Healthcare Journalists. These achievements established Allen in the field of accountability journalism and led to a decade of work at ProPublica.

At ProPublica, Allen helped create the "Surgeon Scorecard," which published complication rates for approximately 17,000 surgeons performing eight common elective procedures. His reporting revealed practices by pharmaceutical companies that led to drug waste and increased costs, such as producing oversized eyedrops and setting unnecessarily short expiration dates. Allen was among the first at ProPublica to cover the COVID-19 pandemic and contributed to a team that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Public Service. His year-long investigation into the health insurance brokerage industry resulted in policy change. Allen's work consistently exposed medical scams, waste in the health care system, and hidden incentives in the insurance industry, prompting reforms and greater accountability.

Allen extended his impact through education and advocacy, teaching investigative health reporting at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. With his book "Never Pay the First Bill: And Other Ways to Fight the Health Care System and Win" and the Allen Health Academy, he provided resources for patients and employers to navigate healthcare costs and complexities. Allen's legacy is reflected in the tangible changes inspired by his reporting and the individuals empowered by his advocacy in healthcare journalism.