Author

Aneri Pattani, KHN
Aneri Pattani, correspondent, reports on a broad range of public health topics, focusing on mental health and substance use. Her work spans text and audio stories, and she has been heard on NPR and Science Friday. Her stories have received national recognition, including a 2021 award from the Institute for Nonprofit News for reporting on the flawed oversight of addiction treatment facilities in Pennsylvania. She was also part of a team that received the News Leaders Association’s 2021 Batten Medal for Coverage of the Coronavirus Pandemic. Before joining KHN, Pattani wrote for Spotlight PA, a collaborative newsroom investigating the Pennsylvania state government. She was a 2019 recipient of the Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism.
Meet the people deciding how to spend $50 billion in opioid settlement cash
By: Aneri Pattani, KHN - July 25, 2023
As more than $50 billion makes its way to state and local governments to compensate for the opioid epidemic, people with high hopes for the money are already fighting over a little-known bureaucratic arm of the process: state councils that wield immense power over how the cash is spent. In 14 states, these councils have […]
Opioid Settlement Payouts to Localities Made Public for First Time
By: Aneri Pattani, KHN - June 20, 2023
Thousands of local governments nationwide are receiving settlement money from companies that made, sold, or distributed opioid painkillers, like Johnson & Johnson, AmerisourceBergen, and Walmart. The companies are shelling out more than $50 billion total in settlements from national lawsuits. But finding out the precise amount each city or county is receiving has been nearly […]
Schools, sheriffs, and syringes: State plans vary for spending $26B in opioid settlement funds
By: Aneri Pattani, KHN - November 29, 2022
With more than 200 Americans still dying of drug overdoses each day, states are beginning the high-stakes task of deciding how to spend billions of dollars in settlement funds from opioid manufacturers and distributors. Their decisions will have real-world implications for families and communities across the country that have borne the brunt of the opioid […]