Glenn Howatt is an investigative journalist specializing in healthcare policy and its impacts on marginalized communities. Currently writing for Minnesota Reformer, his work combines rigorous data analysis with human-centered storytelling to drive legislative change.
“The most impactful stories live where policy meets real people’s lives.”
Glenn Howatt’s career exemplifies the power of interdisciplinary thinking in journalism. After earning dual master’s degrees in urban geography and journalism from the University of Illinois, Howatt developed a unique lens for analyzing systemic issues in public health and policy. His early work at the Star Tribune focused on healthcare disparities, laying the groundwork for his later investigative triumphs.
This 2023 investigation revealed how outdated FDA blood donation guidelines disproportionately affected Minnesota’s LGBTQ+ community. Howatt combined personal narratives like Christopher Johns’ experience with analysis of 12,000 donation records to show the human impact of exclusionary policies. The piece directly influenced Minnesota Health Department advocacy for updated federal guidelines.
Howatt’s 18-month investigation uncovered $60 million in fraudulent billing within Minnesota’s Medicaid program. Through FOIA requests and data analysis of 1.4 million claims, the series exposed systemic oversight failures. This work led to three legislative reforms and earned the 2018 APME Public Service Award.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning series combined undercover facility visits with analysis of state inspection reports. Howatt’s discovery of 400+ preventable deaths in care facilities spurred immediate regulatory action and remains required reading in public health policy courses.
Howatt prioritizes stories demonstrating concrete effects on vulnerable populations. Successful pitches connect individual experiences to systemic issues - for example, how prescription drug pricing affects rural clinics’ ability to serve Medicaid patients. Avoid theoretical discussions without real-world data.
With his urban geography background, Howatt favors stories grounded in Minnesota’s unique healthcare landscape. A recent pitch he accepted examined how Duluth’s hospital closures exacerbated Native American health disparities using tribal health data comparisons.
Howatt’s team verifies all claims through Minnesota Department of Health datasets. Provide pre-analyzed data sets with clear methodology explanations. His 2024 series on vaccine access disparities originated from a pitch including ZIP code-level immunization rates cross-referenced with census data.
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