Friday's Talking Health webcast examines Political Promises What lies ahead for health reform? Barack Obama and John McCain made lots of promises during the campaign and now the time has come to deliver on them. Will Obama really be able to bring insurance coverage to more Americans given the country's other financial problems and the growing deficit? Will we again fall back on an incremental approach? Our next Talking Health program will feature two experts who have been following the politics of health reform for a long time: Karen Davis, president of The Commonwealth Fund, and Sheila P. Burke, a lecturer in public policy at Harvard University. They will offer their judgments on what we can expect. Our two journalist panelists Julie Rovner, health policy correspondent for NPR, and Marilyn Werber Serafini, health care and welfare reporter for National Journal, will give suggestions for covering the story for the next year both nationally and locally.
• Learn more about Obama's proposed health care plan | 
Apply today to study public health issues, meet new sources
AHCJ and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have unveiled a national fellowship program for journalists. Ten fellows will be chosen to spend a week studying public health issues at two CDC campuses in Atlanta in early 2009. The AHCJ-CDC Health Journalism Fellowships will expose the selected journalists to sessions on epidemiology, global disease prevention efforts, pandemic flu preparedness, climate change, vaccine safety, obesity, autism and more. Fellows will tour the CDC director's National Emergency Operations Center, meet new sources on policy and research and learn how to tap the agency's abundant resources to produce better stories. Fellowship applications are being accepted until Dec. 29. Earlier applications are encouraged. | |  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found Georgia school and health officials routinely ignore a law requiring that children receive certain vaccinations before they are allowed to enroll in school and take no actions against violators. As a result, thousands of metro Atlanta children were allowed to enroll and remain in school last year without proof of required shots, records show.
Reporter Alison Young writes about how she reported the story using state vaccination compliance audit information for 625 public and private schools in five Atlanta-area counties. | AHCJ marks another membership milestone AHCJ, which turned 10 this year, reached a new record of 1,109 members this month. “This is remarkable, considering news industry layoffs and buyouts this year,” said Mike Stobbe, AHCJ membership committee board chairman. “We believe it speaks to the tremendous value the organization provides and the desire of our members to stay connected to other professionals.” Not yet a member? Check out all the benefits! |  AHCJ has posted many of the speakers' presentations, audio of several sessions and stories about the workshop online, along with some related resources to help you report on urban health issues.
 Get handouts about hospital finance, learn about asthma in children in urban settings, find out about data available to help find health patterns, what issues emergency rooms are facing, health care in prisons and jails, and much more.
Don't miss a moving talk from Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez about his relationship with a mentally ill street musician that led to a series of columns, a book and a movie.
See a multimedia presentation from the field trip to school-based health centers in the Bronx and hear an introduction about how such clinics are reaching out to children and families. | | 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. | | Check out AHCJ’s latest volume in its ongoing Slim Guide series. The latest guide walks reporters through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Web site and highlights data resources. It is a starting place for finding national or state data and surveys when writing health stories. A Fast Stats section lists, by category, direct links to pages about specific diseases, conditions or datasets for reporters on deadline. For those who want to learn more, there are also step-by-step instructions with examples, story ideas and tips from successfully published stories that used CDC statistics. 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 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. 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. | | Health Journalism 2009, the annual conference of AHCJ, has been set for next spring in Seattle. The conference will be April 16-19 at the Grand Hyatt Seattle. The terrific downtown location promises quick access to all the Emerald City has to offer. Bookmark the conference page and learn about the conference hotel. | |
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The awards recognize the best health reporting in print, broadcast and online media in 11 categories. Entries can include a wide range of health coverage including public health, consumer health, medical research, the business of health care and health ethics.
Deadlines
Early: Postmark by Dec. 17
Regular: Postmark by Jan. 26
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Investigating hospitals:
New slim guide: A Journalist’s Guide to the CDC Web Site
Covering Health in a Multicultural Society
Health Journalism 2009 set for Seattle