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

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

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

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

John 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.

"... 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

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.

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.

Journalist 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

Investigating 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.

Easier-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

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

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

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

AHCJ'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.

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