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AHCJ-NLM FellowshipFellowship offers hands-on experience with National Library of Medicine resources

The AHCJ-NLM Fellowships will give four journalists the chance to spend a week on the campus of the National Institutes of Health. Fellows will learn how to explore NIH research, understand and interpret biomedical statistics, take advantage of NLM's data, programs and resources and get hands-on training in PubMed, MedlinePlus, ClinicalTrials.gov, ToxNet and Household Products Database. Applications due Aug. 2.

Landmark book cover'Landmark' shares lessons learned while covering health reform

 

After passage of health reform, a team of Washington Post staffers wrote "Landmark: The Inside Story of America's New Health-Care Law and What It Means for Us All." In this piece for AHCJ, member Joanne Kenen interviewed two of the authors, Ceci Connolly and Alec MacGillis, who offer some of the high and low points of the passage of health care reform and the politics behind the story.

The reporters also offer a number of questions and issues that journalists need to examine as reform is implemented on the local level.

Reporting on the intersection of health, environment

louisville
Louisville skyline (Photo by Glorius via Flickr)

Some of the hottest topics in news these days are at the intersection of health and environmental beats:

  • Drinking water that's fouled by pesticides, dry-cleaning chemicals or factory farm waste.
  • Plasticizing chemicals that cause breast development in boys.
  • Finding fish that's safe to eat and sustainably caught.

Reporters can help connect these dots for readers, making the link between their morning grande latte or aspirin, and the caffeine or pharmaceuticals measured in the lake or bay down the street.

Veteran environmental reporter Lisa Stiffler looks at some of the hottest issues and offers a number of great resources for other reporters covering the intersection of health and the environment.

HHS releases outpatient outcome data

In a conference call with AHCJ members, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced new data that will allow you to track the outpatient outcomes at your hospitals. The data release comes is the latest addition to the agency's Hospital Compare database. The data will help you determine:

  • How efficiently facilities use imaging equipment and keep patients safe from exposure to potentially harmful, unnecessary radiation.
  • Rates of outpatient MRIs for lower back pain
  • Rates of outpatient re-tests after a screening mammogram
  • How frequently outpatient departments gave patients "double" computed tomography (CT) scans when a single scan may be all that is needed
  • How well outpatients are treated for suspected heart attacks
  • How well outpatient surgical patients are protected from infection

AudioCMS experts Marilyn Tavenner, acting administrator, and Dr. Barry Straube, chief medical officer, will take questions about the data.  A recording of this call is now available.

New AHCJ board seated for 2010-11

Andy Miller, longtime health care journalist, joined five incumbents in being seated on the Association of Health Care Journalists'  board of directors.

Incumbents starting a new two-year term include Julie Appleby and  Phil Galewitz of Kaiser Health News; Ivan Oransky of Reuters Health; Trudy Lieberman of Columbia Journalism Review; and freelancer Irene Wielawski. The six journalists were the only ones to register in time to run for the six open spots, precluding the need for an election. Board member Mike Stobbe of The Associated Press chose not to run for re-election.

Each year, AHCJ conducts an election to pick people to serve on the association's board of directors. Six of the 12 positions come up for election each year for two-year terms. Board members take on committee duties and contribute to association activities, including fundraising, advocacy, training events, membership outreach and the newsletter. They may be asked to play a role in association projects, such as writing, editing or fact-checking resource guides or online teaching modules.

Reporting on health reform between now and 2014

Some top Washington, D.C.-based journalists discussed implementation deadlines, how to tie local issues to reform, Medicare reimbursement rates, what reporters should look for in their states and more. A recording of this briefing and a resource list are available. The event was co-sponsored by the Alliance for Health Reform and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Some recent tip sheets provide a number of useful tips and story ideas:

Tip sheet: Covering cuts to Medicare reimbursements
Doctors who treat Medicare patients are facing a 21 percent cut in the reimbursements they receive. Critics say it could lead to doctors dropping or refusing to see Medicare patients, and patients having to hunt for new providers to pick up their care. The AMA has launched a media campaign to put pressure on Congress to reverse the cuts. AHCJ offers some background, story ideas and sources for stories about the changes.

Covering high-risk insurance pools: Tips for reporters
The federal government and states are scrambling to create temporary high-risk pools for the medically uninsurable, as one of the first provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to go into effect. Apart from being a policy story, it’s of great interest to all your readers, viewers or listeners who have pre-existing conditions and are struggling to find coverage. Four reporters covering the topic have shared their story tips, suggestions and resources for AHCJ members.

Health care reform has passed: What's next?
Four journalists on the front lines offer their advice and suggestions on what needs to be covered next, how it might affect local communities and how to approach this complex topic.

Workshop explored rural health issues

Speakers' presentations and tip sheets are available for AHCJ members.

Nearly a quarter of America's population lives in rural areas. Look past the idyllic settings, though, and signs of serious health issues are everywhere: Rural residents are generally older and more likely to live in poverty. Chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease are rampant in rural America, and residents tend to live miles away from doctors and hospitals.

The Rural Health Journalism Workshop in Kansas City focused on special health concerns of rural populations and how reporters can better cover their stories. The workshop offered a primer on what journalists need to know about rural residents and rural health issues, a chronic doctor shortage, the stories of an aging population, children and their special health needs, and the growing concerns of oral health and mental health in large underserved areas. A special luncheon address explored health reform.

Health Journalism 2010 draws crowd

Standing-room-only at newsmaker briefing during Health Journalism 2010

The newsmaker briefings with HHS Sect. Sebelius and CDC Director Frieden were standing-room-only events.

Health Journalism 2010

The annual conference of the Association of Health Care Journalists drew more than 500 attendees to Chicago.

Conference materials:

Speaker presentations, audio and video of some presentations and articles from the conference are available for AHCJ members. We expect to get additional materials in the coming days and those will be added as soon as they are available. More than 2,200 tweets from the conference are archived. A number of news stories about the briefings, panels and the conference are available.

Newsmakers included:

* CDC Director Thomas Frieden
* HHS Sect. Kathleen Sebelius
* FDA devices chief Jeffrey Shuren
* Keynote speaker Peter Pronovost
* AHCJ Award winners

The full conference schedule included experts on infectious diseases, aging and nursing homes, workforce issues, financial issues, health reform and much more.

2009 winners named in health journalism awards

Logo: Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism

Investigations into questionable autism treatments, the safety of generic drugs, claims denials by disability insurers and the global trade in smuggled cigarettes were among the top winners in this year's Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism.

The 2009 awards, announced today by the Association of Health Care Journalists, recognize the best health reporting in nine categories, covering print, broadcast and online media. The contest, in its sixth year, received more than 250 entries.

Links to the winning entries are available and AHCJ members also can read questionnaires about how the winning entries were reported and written.

New benefit for AHCJ members!
Electronic discussion list archive is now searchable

Many AHCJ members cite the electronic discussion list as one of the most useful resources AHCJ offers because it lets them tap into the vast experience and expertise of the association's membership.

We just made the list more valuable: Members can now search all messages that have been exchanged on the list since its 2001 inception. If you're looking for good sources, examples of how stories have been covered in the past, discussions about the pros and cons of quality ratings, using data to report stories or more, the archive is a great place to start.

You will need your login information for the AHCJ Web site because we are keeping access to the archive limited to AHCJ members. If you have questions or comments about the archive, please send them to pia@healthjournalism.org.

Uncovering conflicts of interest in medicine, research

Conflicts of interest in medical researchJohn Fauber of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has been covering conflicts of interest in medicine for about two years, during which he has reported on the large sums of money that the University of Wisconsin medical school and dozens of doctors were getting from drug companies. He has uncovered links between the university and the marketing of hormones, written about a journal editor who earns royalties from medical devices that appear in his publication and found physicians who don't adequately disclose their conflicts of interest in journal articles.

In this article for AHCJ, Fauber details what he has learned and how he went about investigating the pervasive influence of drug company money on the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and its doctors.

All reporters and assignment editors should look at the broad topic of health as a thick thread that runs through just about every newsroom beat.
"... look at the broad topic of health as a thick thread that runs through just about every newsroom beat." (Photo: parl via Flickr)

Veteran editor offers tips for finding health stories on any beat

In newsrooms across the country that are shedding staff, teams of health and medical reporters have been reduced to a solitary, overworked journalist left to cover the gamut of health-related stories – a beat too big for any one person.

Others can help fill the void if they are attuned to how health and medical stories intersect with their own beats and how such stories touch the lives of real people. All reporters and assignment editors should look at the broad topic of health as a thick thread that runs through just about every newsroom beat.

This tip sheet, from California Watch's Mark Katches, is a primer for editors and reporters to start thinking differently about their beat coverage and to identify health stories on "non-health" beats. It includes a list of ideas, resources and tips for finding health stories on any beat compiled from experienced reporters for their tips on finding health stories, no matter what beat you normally cover.

AHCJ calls for better information from Joint Commission Web site

AHCJ has called upon the Joint Commission, the nonprofit agency that accredits hospitals, to do a better and more complete job of telling the public what it knows about the quality of hospital care. In a letter, AHCJ suggests improvements to the commission's Quality Check Web site, where many people go to find out whether to trust their local hospital. The Web site also is a potentially useful tool for health-care journalists. "In a time of change in health care, the ability to do comprehensive research on local hospitals is more important than ever before," the association's letter said.

Get connected with AHCJ

Follow AHCJ_Pia on Twitter

AHCJ on Facebook

AHCJ on LinkedIn

Fan, friend or Twitter with AHCJ: Join the 1,750 people who are following AHCJ on Twitter: follow AHCJ_Pia. AHCJ members can join the group on LinkedIn, a professional networking Web site that can help you connect with colleagues. Or, on Facebook, sign up to be a "fan" of AHCJ and interact with other fans as well as get updates about AHCJ events and news via Facebook. Tips about Twitter for health journalists: More and more journalists and people in communications are using Twitter, an Internet-based microblogging service. However, Twitter can be difficult to understand at first and many journalists wonder just how they would use it. Here are some tips especially for health journalists on using Twitter.

Major journalism groups demand FDA end newsgathering constraints

Eleven major journalism organizations, representing thousands of journalists, are demanding the U.S. Food and Drug Administration end requirements that journalists and FDA employees notify or obtain permission from an agency official in order to conduct an interview.

AHCJ, the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Newspaper Association, the Radio Television Digital News Association and several other journalism groups were joined by more than two dozen individual journalists in signing the letter sent to the agency's Transparency Task Force this week.

Children eating ice cream.
Photo: Alex E. Proimos via Flickr

Childhood obesity:
Expert, journalist discuss solutions, strategies to cover

Changing behavior and educating people about food is key to helping children become fit and avoid obesity, according to the San Francisco pediatrician who spoke at a recent panel organized by the Bay Area chapter of AHCJ. The panel featured a doctor who is trying to find solutions to the epidemic of childhood obesity and a journalist who has covered the culture of overeating.

AudioJournalist Elaine Herscher, an author and senior managing editor at Consumer Health Interactive, offered a number of story ideas for reporters. Read more and listen to the panel.

New slim guide: Covering the Health of Local Nursing Homes

Check out AHCJ’s latest volume in its ongoing Slim Guide series. This reporting guide gives a head start to journalists who want to pursue stories about one of the most vulnerable populations – nursing home residents. It offers advice about Web sites, datasets, research and other resources. After reading this book, journalists can have more confidence in deciphering nursing home inspection reports, interviewing advocacy groups on all sides of an issue, locating key data, and more. The book includes story examples and ideas.

AHCJ publishes these reporting guides, with the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to help journalists understand and accurately report on specific subjects.

DATA

SurgeonInvestigating hospitals: Find stories with ready-to-use Hospital Compare data

How do your local hospitals stack against their competitors, others in your state and hospitals across the country? When HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt unveiled a patient survey database at the AHCJ conference in March, members filed story after story about their local hospitals. Now, AHCJ has made it easier for journalists to compare hospitals in their regions by generating spreadsheet files from the HHS database, allowing members to compare more than a few hospitals at a time, using spreadsheet or database software. AHCJ provides key documentation and explanatory material to help you understand the data possibilities and limits. Need help in analyzing Excel files? AHCJ offers a tutorial about investigating health data using spreadsheets.

Nursing Home Compare dataEasier-to-use Nursing Home Compare data

AHCJ has taken key elements from the federal Nursing Home Compare database and put them into a more manageable format in Excel spreadsheets. This allows members to quickly analyze the most recent Nursing Home Compare data for local stories about ratings or violations. For additional help for members, AHCJ created a tip sheet about summarizing spreadsheets to create categories and counts. AHCJ has made it easy to see when the data was last updated, what the star rating of a facility is, identifies serious violations and whether a violation was cited during a routine survey or after a complaint.

MEMBER BENEFITS

Freelance writing

Photo by dbdbrobot via Flickr.

Directory of freelance health journalists

Looking for a freelancer with expertise in a specific area of health? Are you a freelancer trying to get your expertise known? Take a look at our just-updated AHCJ Freelance Directory to choose from more than 60 highly experienced health journalists!

Freelance members of AHCJ are invited to list their specialties, post résumés, bios, Web links – even story clips. The handy state-by-state directory allows hiring editors to zero in on geography or expertise to find the perfect candidate to approach for work. And it’s free for AHCJ freelancers and hiring editors!

AHCJ offers mentoring program to its members mentoring program

Although AHCJ has long been known for its supportive network of members, we have launched a more formal program to link members seeking some guidance with members who have recognized expertise in specific areas. This will be especially helpful to those new to the beat or those who have had health coverage added to an already long list of duties. The number of members we are able to assist will depend upon the number of long-time health care journalists within our ranks willing to share some of their time as mentors. Sign up today!

‘Downsized’ members can take advantage of AHCJ program Transition Assistance program for journalists

Although AHCJ membership continued to increase over the past year as more journalists learned of its training opportunities and useful services, the group recognizes the strain under which the news media finds itself. The economic downturn has resulted in layoffs, buyouts and downsizings in several industries, including our own. AHCJ's board and staff believe it's important to retain all the talented professionals who make up our membership. With that in mind, AHCJ is announcing a Transition Assistance Program to help members who are forced into a job change. Any current AHCJ member who is laid off or is required to take a buyout is eligible for TAP.

SLIM GUIDES

Slim guidesAHCJ's slim guides walk reporters through specific topics, highlighting resources, story ideas, tips from experience journalists and stories that others have done well. Titles in the series include:
• Covering the Health of Local Nursing Homes
• Navigating the CDC: A Journalist’s Guide to the CDC Web Site
• Covering Obesity: A Guide for Reporters
• Covering Hospitals: Using Tools on the Web

AHCJ publishes these reporting guides, with the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to help journalists understand and accurately report on specific subjects.

FREE ONLINE TRAINING

Course teaches how to evaluate hospitalsCovering Hospitals online training

This free innovative simulation, "On the Beat: Covering Hospitals," guides you through the sources and resources you need to tackle the beat. You'll tap into the same tools that you'll use on the job, and you'll have a virtual mentor to walk you through the maze of reports, statistics and sources. Two story lines will teach you about reporting on hospital quality and how to report on hospital finances. Start today to hone your critical-thinking skills and gain the beat-specific knowledge needed to cover the hospitals in your community.
This online training module combines the reporting expertise of AHCJ with NewsU’s innovative e-learning experience and is made possible through a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Covering Health in a Multicultural SocietyOnline training

AHCJ has launched an interactive e-class as the online companion to the book “Covering Health in a Multicultural Society: A Resource Guide for Journalists.” Enroll in the class to take part in discussion forums and take short quizzes to test your knowledge. Complete the e-class, and get a certificate of completion. The course is a resource for understanding the increasing diversity of the audiences AHCJ members serve.

Covering Health Covering Health

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Reporting Guides






 

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