A new podcast reports on how Globe Media’s Stat grew into a leading source of health coverage

Stat, a Boston-based digital publication that covers medicine and health sciences, is profitable and growing, according to a recent podcast. Launched 11 years ago, Stat is part of Boston Globe Media. The podcast was the second episode of “Commons Healthcare” and features an interview with Stat editor Rick Berke, among others.

Because Globe Media is privately held, the assertion that Stat is profitable came without any numbers. But, like The Boston Globe itself, Stat continues to expand its staff, adding a reporter to cover the declining trust in science.

There were also no numbers offered for Stat’s paid circulation, which — at $39 a month — is more expensive than the Globe itself and is clearly aimed at a specialty audience. Globe Media chief executive Linda Henry demurred when I asked her last month how many paying subscribers Stat now has; the Globe itself, she told me, has 335,000.

And though there is no indication in the podcast of how many journalists Stat employs, a 10th-anniversary press release issued by Globe Media in September 2025 said the operation has “roughly 100” employees. That release does not say how many of those employees work on the news side, but clearly Stat has grown into a substantial operation, despite laying off 11 people in late 2024. Its staff is located not just in Boston but in New York, Washington, the Midwest, California and London.

The 45-minute podcast is filled with interesting details:

 Stat has lost what Berke estimated at “millions of dollars” in ad revenues “because of stories and investigations we’ve done on companies that don’t like what we do.”

 The publication was in the midst of an investigation of UnitedHealth Group when, in December 2024, chief executive Brian Thompson was shot to death on a New York sidewalk, sparking a public uproar over greedy medical-insurance companies. Berke told the podcast that he was relieved upon learning the alleged shooter’s manifesto contained no mention of Stat.

 Stat reporter Helen Branswell told the podcast that she expected her late-2019 tweet about an outbreak of what would soon become the COVID pandemic would be in her obituary. As it turned out, the interview with Branswell took place just a few weeks before she died.

 Berke was still a high school student when he and a friend broke the news that Soviet agents had tried to kill then-Vice President Richard Nixon with high doses of radiation while he was in Moscow in 1959.

The episode is worth a listen if you’re interested in the journalism of health care, media business models or simply want to know more about how Boston Globe Media is faring. “Commons HealthCare” is part of a startup called Commons Media.

The staff — including co-hosts Tom Castles and Jack Murtha — has some serious journalistic chops. But I’ll also note that Castles and Murtha are the co-founders of an organization called Map Change, which, according to its website, “helps healthcare and technology organizations earn millions in new business, steer policy change, and shape the conversation.” That may explain the boosterish tone of the podcast.

Finally, I reported on the launch of Stat for GBH News back in 2015.