AHCJ News

Six journalists have been named to this year's class of AHCJ-National Library of Medicine fellows. The fellowship program was created to increase reporters' access and understanding of the considerable resources available at NLM and the National Institutes of Health.

The fellows, selected from dozens of qualified applicants, will visit the NIH campus in September for hands-on workshops about how to use and get the most from several government research databases, such as PubMed, MedlinePlus, ClinicalTrials.gov and ToxNet. Fellows also will meet with senior NLM and NIH researchers and officials for exclusive informational sessions.

AHCJ members will now get special access to data and mapping tools, thanks to an agreement the organization has made with Esri, a company that provides mapping software and data.

This new member benefit allows AHCJ members to use data – at no cost – to enhance their health reporting. They will have the option to sign up for a basic subscription to Esri's Business Analyst Online (BAO), a web-based demographic data exploration application. Journalists can use BAO to investigate demographic patterns and compare areas through interactive maps.

The AHCJ board of directors in June voted unanimously to revise the association's membership guidelines in an effort to involve more journalists and have a more consistent approach to eligibility.

"Under our expanded eligibility, more journalists will be able to take advantage of the many resources of AHCJ and their inclusion will make us a stronger organization," said Phil Galewitz, chair of the AHCJ membership committee and a correspondent for Kaiser Health News. "At the same time, we are once again making it perfectly clear that AHCJ will not permit members who conduct public or media relations, with the exception of officers of independent, nonpartisan health and journalism foundations."

The Association of Health Care Journalists has named the 2010-11 class of the Midwest Health Journalism Program, an annual fellowship program for reporters and editors from Kansas and Missouri.

The program provides established journalists with the tools needed to improve the depth and amount of coverage focused on critical state and local health issues. The goals include a better-educated public and more accountability for policymakers, say the program planners.

The Association of Health Care Journalists has awarded the first AHCJ Media Fellowships on Health Performance. The program, supported by The Commonwealth Fund, is meant to help journalists understand and report on the performance of local health care systems and the U.S. health system as a whole.

The fellows will receive customized training, mentoring and financial support for field reporting and conference attendance. They are expected to complete a significant and unique reporting project by the end of the fellowship year in June 2011.

 The Association of Health Care Journalists sent comments in support of full-text access to the fruits of publicly-funded research to members of Congress considering H.R.5037 – Federal Research Public Access Act of 2009. One section of that bill would require researchers who receive funding from federal agencies to provide free online public access to final peer-reviewed manuscripts or published versions as soon as practicable, but not later than six months after publication in peer-reviewed journals.

We don't often get the chance to say thank you to the individuals who add $20 to their membership renewals or offer multi-year pledges matched by their em­ployers. This kind of support is testament to how members feel about the mission of an organization. It is the support of which we should be most proud.

We are happy to list the individuals who gave that little bit extra during the past fiscal year. The entire organization thanks you.

President's Corner, by Charles Ornstein

On a day-to-day basis, it seemed that political stories got better billing - at least from my vantage point. With the election of Scott Brown and the looming 2010 primaries, part of that is understandable. But I am really proud of the job health journalists did breaking through the noise and putting the political developments in the appropriate policy context. Time and again, reporters from outlets big and small profiled folks struggling with and without insurance in their communities, looked at the budget realities in their states and went beyond the catch phrases used by both sides. Journalists repeatedly took the vari­ous bills moving through the process and explained how they would affect readers, listeners and viewers. And they especially did this after the bill became law.

But for us, as health reporters, the hardest task comes next. As health reform is implemented, we move from the theo­retical to the actual.

Andy Miller, longtime health care journalist, joined five incumbents in being seated on the Association of Health Care Journalists' 2010-2011 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.

If a public relations representative listens in on an interview, should the reporter let readers know?

That question has recently stirred debate among AHCJ members and others, following discussion sparked by AHCJ's Right-to-Know Committee, a 12-member group working to improve access to information for reporters and the public. Members of the committee recently met with federal officials about improving reporters' access to experts. In addition, the committee is working with state and local public health officials to develop guidelines on reporting deaths of interest to the public, continues its efforts to persuade the Joint Commission to make its Web site more transparent and accessible, and to challenge medical groups that impose excessive restrictions on recording and photography at their meetings.

If you are a "professional" member of AHCJ and would like to serve on the board of directors, you are invited to declare your candidacy. 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. The organization has issued its call for candidates.

More than 50 people attended the Rural Health Journalism Workshop 2010, part of the Association of Health Care Journalists' Midwest Health Journalism Program, on June 4 in Kansas City, Mo. With 15 speakers and topics that included a look at barriers to mental health services in rural areas, health disparities, oral health and more, attendees of the free, daylong event left with story ideas and new resources to enhance their reporting.

Thanks to a grant from a group of Kansas and Missouri health foundations, the Association of Health Care Journalists (based at the Missouri School of Journalism) has worked with the Kansas Health Institute and the KU School of Journalism to create the Midwest Health Journalism Program. Through our Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism, we select a handful of journalists annually from each of the two states for a training fellowship. This will be our fourth class.

The Association of Health Care Journalists has announced a new fellowship program to help journalists understand and report on the performance of local health care systems and the U.S. health system as a whole. The AHCJ Media Fellowships on Health Performance, supported by The Commonwealth Fund, provides for training as well as field reporting assistance.

The program for mid-career journalists is intended to give print, broadcast and online reporters an opportunity to learn about examples of high-performing health care systems, to focus on innovations in care delivery, and to explore a system or its significant parts to determine what makes that system effective or ineffective. Fellows will be able to examine providers of care, insurers, regulators and policymakers.

A limited number of trade associations and partisan foundations will be al­lowed to exhibit at next year's AHCJ con­ference under a pilot program approved by the group's board of directors at its April meeting.

The action, one of several key decisions made by the board, came in response to concerns that the exhibit hall could offer a more complete exchange of ideas while not being turned into a commercial ba­zaar.

More than 500 attendees of Health Journalism 2010 took advantage of news-breaking speakers, experts on the impact of health reform, ideas on pursu­ing patient safety stories and more. The Association of Health Care Journalists' four-day annual conference in Chicago featured field trips, workshops, panels, roundtables and news briefings focusing on health reform, public health and medi­cal device safety.

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.

The Association of Health Care Journalists has asked medical organizations to end  policies that bar journalists from recording or photographing the meetings where new scientific research is presented.  Such policies make it difficult for journalists to provide complete and accurate information to the public. Most medical societies do not bar recording and photography

Health Journalism 2010, set for April 22-25 in Chicago, is expected to draw hundreds of reporters, editors, news directors and producers for the latest information on covering health issues for consumer and trade audiences.

The annual conference of the Association of Health Care Journalists will feature a Newsmaker Briefing by Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Frieden assumed the role last summer at the height of the public's attention to the H1N1 flu pandemic.

In a year when health reform debate has reached a fevered pitch, a special "Assessing Health Reform" track will devote several panels to related questions. The conference will include dozens of panels with a mix of journalists and topic experts. There will be field trips and sessions about finding health story ideas in data and maps. Other sessions will cover every angle of health - including science, medicine, money, politics and policy. Attendees will have opportunities to learn about the trends of aging, both policy and science; the future of women's health research; spotting conflicts of interest in medical research; how state budgets impact the health of poor people; and more.

The Association of Health Care Journalists 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.

An informal poll of AHCJ members from across the country, as well as a review of press releases and news reports, reveals that there is a wide variation in what information local and state health officials are disclosing about H1N1 deaths. AHCJ is preparing a guide for journalists who have difficulty getting basic information about deaths that are of public interest. The organization also hopes to work with public health officials on national level to encourage greater openness.

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.

The Association of Health Care Journalists, 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.

Meryl Davids Landau writes about her experience as a 2008-09 AHCJ-CDC Health Journalism Fellow, meeting her "fellow Fellows" and CDC officials, what topics she learned more about and how she has been able to translate that experience into a number of articles for various news outlets.

She says that, eight months later, she is still developing and pitching stories based on what she learned during her week in Atlanta and that the fellowship boosted her credibility with editors.

This will be my last HealthBeat column. After five years as president of AHCJ, it's time to turn the gavel over to Charlie Ornstein and a new set of officers who will take their positions at the fall board meeting in Miami. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve this organization for so long as president and help build it into one of the best, most vibrant professional journalism organizations around. I will always consider being president of AHCJ a highlight of my very long career in journalism.

The fellowship program will include presentations, roundtable discussions and lab tours on epidemiology, global disease prevention efforts, obesity, vaccine safety, pandemic flu preparedness, autism and many other topics.

The Association of Health Care Journalists sent letters this week to several federal agencies and a medical journal objecting to the uneven handling of embargoed news.

The AHCJ letters were addressed to officials at the National Institute of Mental Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics to protest the recent handling of embargoes on two autism studies.

AHCJ and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have agreed to a second annual national fellowship program for journalists. Ten fellows will be chosen to spend a week studying a variety of public health issues at two CDC campuses in Atlanta in December. The training will take place Dec. 13-18, 2009 at CDC's Atlanta and Chamblee campuses. Fellowship applications are being accepted until Oct. 23.

The AHCJ board of directors elected a new set of officers to take their seats at the upcoming fall board meeting.

The Association of Health Care Journalists has named the 2009-10 class of the Midwest Health Journalism Program, an annual fellowship program for reporters and editors from Kansas and Missouri. The program provides established journalists with the tools needed to improve the depth and amount of coverage focused on critical state and local health issues. The goals include a better-educated public and more accountability for policymakers, say the program planners.

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Members of the Association of Health Care Journalists elected two new names to the AHCJ board of directors and returned four incumbents to their posts for the 2009-11 term.

Felice J. Freyer of The Providence Journal and Maryn McKenna, an independent journalist and author, were selected to join the board. Incumbents Charles Ornstein of ProPublica, Karl Stark of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Carla K. Johnson of The Associated Press and Andrew Holtz, a Portland, Ore., independent journalist, were returned to the board.

Six journalists have been named the first AHCJ-National Library of Medicine fellows. The fellowship program was created this year to increase reporter access and understanding of the considerable resources available at NLM and the National Institutes of Health.

The visit to the NIH campus, set for Sept. 13-17, will allow hands-on workshops about how to use and get the most from several government research databases, such as PubMed, MedlinePlus, ClinicalTrials.gov and ToxNet. Fellows also will meet with senior NLM and NIH researchers and officials for exclusive informational sessions.

The Midwest Health Journalism Program completed another year with the graduation in June of its second class of fellows. The selection of Kansas and Missouri journalists for a third class of fellows is under way for this cooperative effort of AHCJ, the Kansas Health Institute and the University of Kansas School of Journalism that provides established journalists with the tools needed to improve the depth and amount of coverage focused on critical state and local health issues.

Each year, members in the "active" or professional category elect members for AHCJ's board of directors. Six of the 12 director positions come up for election each year for two-year terms. Incumbent board members are allowed to run for re-election. Potential board members need to declare candidacy by 5 p.m. (ET) on July 6.

The Association of Health Care Journalists objects to any effort by the Journal of the American Medical Association to silence whistle-blowers who call attention to potential conflicts of interest involving study authors. It could discourage potential whistle-blowers from coming forward with crucial information that physicians and the general public urgently need to make informed decisions about medical care.

A reporter's revelation of astonishing conflicts of interest by scientists advocating for early detection of lung cancer led to one of this year's Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. The awards also spotlighted such work as the exploration of a hidden world of illegal prescription drugs sold at swap meets, a narrative on a mechanic seeking to rebuild his life after an accident severed his arms, and a trip into the nightmarish world of a boy struggling with mental illness.

The Association of Health Care Journalists has urged President Barack Obama to end inherited policies that require public affairs officers to approve journalists' interviews with federal staff. A letter sent to the Obama administration points out that such policies hamper newsgathering and make it difficult for reporters to fulfill their obligation to hold government agencies accountable.

The Association of Health Care Journalists supports full and timely public access to the results of government-funded research. It believes legislation introduced this month by U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. and others would constitute a blow to the public's right to access vital scientific data.

The Association of Health Care Journalists has announced the selection of the first class of AHCJ-CDC Health Journalism Fellows. The 11 journalists will spend a week studying a variety of public health issues at two Atlanta campuses of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The fellowship program, supported by the CDC Foundation, will include presentations, roundtable discussions and lab tours on epidemiology, global disease prevention efforts, obesity, vaccine safety, pandemic flu preparedness, autism and many other topics.

AHCJ has begun taking applications for the organization's new mentoring program, a project designed to help AHCJ members share their expertise with other members who are in the process of building their careers. Whether you are just starting out and seeking advice on getting ahead or interested in making a mid-career transition and looking for someone to show you the ropes, AHCJ's mentoring program can help you achieve your goals.

Although AHCJ membership continued to increase this 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.

With that in mind, AHCJ is announcing a Transition Assistance Program (TAP) 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.

AHCJ and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have unveiled a new national fellowship program for journalists. Ten fellows will be chosen to spend a week studying a variety of public health issues at two CDC campuses in Atlanta in early 2009. The application deadline is Dec. 29.

Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez' moving stories about his relationship with a mentally ill street musician helped illuminate the often forgotten illness of schizophrenia and the plight of the homeless living on skid row.

Lopez described his personal and professional journey in a keynote talk at AHCJ's second annual Urban Health Journalism Workshop in New York in October, reminding attendees why they became reporters and writers and the power they have to change lives.

Two important journalism organizations are urging local broadcast stations and newspapers to avoid arrangements with hospitals that improperly influence health coverage, saying unethical partnerships interfere with independent news coverage of health care.

The Association of Health Care Journalists and the Society of Professional Journalists are concerned about news media that publish or broadcast stories, reports, news releases and interviews prepared or paid for by hospitals.

Each spring it's time to take stock of where we are as an association - what we have done in the past year and where we are headed for the next one. As I noted in March at our annual meeting in Washington, D.C., AHCJ is in the best position ever - financially and otherwise.

Members of the Association of Health Care Journalists have re-elected five directors and added one new one for the 2008-09 fiscal year.

The Association of Health Care Journalists has named the 2008-09 class of the Midwest Health Journalism Program, an annual fellowship program for reporters and editors from Kansas and Missouri.

A new series of health-related webcasts for journalists debuts next week with a spotlight on the growing problem of the underinsured – those who have insurance but are still at risk for substantial out-of-pocket expenses. "Talking Health" will be presented by the Association of Health Care Journalists, The Commonwealth Fund and the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism.

Each year, members in the "active" or professional category elect members for AHCJ's board of directors. Six of the 12 director positions come up for election each year for two-year terms. Incumbent board members are allowed to run for re-election. Potential board members need to declare candidacy by 5 p.m. (Central time) on June 27.

About 75 people gathered in early May for AHCJ's first Rural Health Journalism Workshop to explore the special issues facing people living in rural areas, such as limited access to health care providers and pharmacies and a lack of resources. Journalists listened to experts on panels that dealt with diabetes, visual and dental health, challenges in getting health care workers to practice in rural areas, immigration, aging, how Medicare affects rural health care and more.

The Midwest Health Journalism Program completed its first year with the graduation in May of its inaugural class of fellows. The fellowship program was launched in 2007 through funding by a consortium of six Missouri and Kansas health foundations. Chris King, editorial director of the St. Louis American, was one of the fellows. In a sidebar, he reflects on their experiences and what they learned during their year as fellows.

Concerned by incidents in which hospitals have attempted to restrict newsgathering, the Association of Health Care Journalists strongly urges reporters to resist signing confidentiality agreements with hospitals. Confidentiality agreements typically aim to bar journalists from disclosing information they discover in the course of reporting at a facility, unless they obtain the hospital's approval.

More than two-thirds of health care reporters taking part in a First Amendment survey have had stories held or left unpublished because the Food and Drug Administration did not respond to FOIA requests in a timely manner. Only a third of reporters said they received a response within the required 20 days called for in the federal Freedom of Information Act. Many waited months or years – or never received requested data, according to the survey and analysis conducted for the Association of Health Care Journalists by graduate students at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.

A record crowd attending Health Journalism 2008 heard Elizabeth Edwards criticize Republican presidential candidate John McCain's health care proposals, actor Dennis Quaid urge better protection against hospital medical errors and Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt unveil access to hospital patient satisfaction data.

Health Journalism 2008 highlights include an opening newsmaker briefing from actor Dennis Quaid with his very personal perspective on medical errors and a roundtable of some of AHCJ's founding members discussing the organization's past and future.

An investigation into deaths in Georgia's psychiatric hospitals, a riveting examination of the way genetic screening tests have changed American life, and a look at the abysmal state of dental health in West Virginia are among the top winners of the latest Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism.

The 2007 awards, announced today by Association of Health Care Journalists, recognize the best health reporting in 10 categories covering print, broadcast and online media. In its fourth year, the contest received nearly 400 entries.

Hollywood actor Dennis Quaid, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt and Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards, will headline the nation's largest health care journalism conference. About 500 attendees are expected to attend Health Journalism 2008, set for March 27-30 in Washington, D.C. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the association, one of the world's fastest-growing journalism organizations.

Truth in advertising is a motto we adhere to at the Association of Health Care Journalists, right down to the organization's name. That's the reason behind a recent update to our membership guidelines.

Veteran journalist and computer-assisted reporting instructor Jeff Porter has joined the Association of Health Care Journalists staff as its first special projects director. Porter will help with current and upcoming special projects, conference content planning and outreach efforts.

Andrew Dillon, chief executive of the United Kingdom's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, spoke to about three dozen journalists at an AHCJ event in London.The event was followed by a discussion about creating a U.K. chapter of AHCJ.

As balloting gets under way in the 2008 presidential primary season, three leading candidates have outlined their views on health care in response to questions posed by members of the Association of Health Care Journalists, the nation's leading group of health journalists.

Sixteen reporters from Tallahassee to Fort Lauderdale gathered on Nov. 13 at the Winter Park Health Foundation in Winter Park, just outside Orlando.

More than 100 working journalists and journalism students attended the first Urban Health Journalism Workshop, presented by the Association of Health Care Journalists and its Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. The event was hosted by the Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York, where participants got to tour the new facilities. The workshop's keynote address and opening reception gave attendees a chance to see The New York Times' new building, as well.

The AHCJ board of directors has approved extending the association's international membership discount for another year. The discount, allowing journalists from countries outside the United States and Canada to join for $30, was first approved in the fall of 2006.

The Association of Health Care Journalists and its Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism announced that it has received a $750,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to support conferences and workshops, increase its training and outreach activities, and fund AHCJ's core educational and operational efforts.

The Association of Health Care Journalists has released its latest slim guide, "Covering Obesity." The guide, published with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is one in a series intended to assist reporters planning projects to think through the issues, and at the same time, to serve reporters on deadline surf quickly to sources or data.

Washington, D.C., members gathered July 18 for a brown-bag lunch and panel discussion on drug safety regulation and the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA), currently in conference committee in Congress. The panelists were Susan F. Wood, Ph.D., professor of environmental and occupational health at George Washington University and former director of FDA's Office of Women's Health; and Caroline Loew, Ph.D., senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. Audio of this timely and informative discussion is available for download.

The Association of Health Care Journalists has named the inaugural class of the Midwest Health Journalism Program, an annual fellowship program for reporters and editors from Kansas and Missouri.

AHCJ members, voting in this year's board election, re-elected five directors and added one new one. Half the board faces election each year. Re-elected: Andrew Holtz, Charles Ornstein, Carla K. Johnson, Karl Stark and Mary Chris Jaklevic. Newly elected this year is Sheree Crute.

AHCJ's board of directors has sent a letter to Sen. Arlen Specter stating opposition to secrecy clauses in contracts between medical device manufacturers and hospitals that interfere with the vital watchdog role of the news media.

The Association of Health Care Journalists has launched its new Web site featuring enhanced, easy-to-access resources for reporters, editors and others covering health news. AHCJ members will find more in-depth resources to help cover the beat, including articles written exclusively for the AHCJ site, tip sheets from fellow journalists, links to in-depth health coverage, an e-newsletter and much more.

A consortium of six health foundations in Kansas and Missouri has pledged $724,739 to establish the Midwest Health Journalism Program, an annual fellowship program for reporters and editors from both states. The program involves a cooperative effort among the Association of Health Care Journalists, the Kansas Health Institute and the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas.

We hope this new Web site will become your new home on the Internet. You'll find more in-depth resources to help you cover your beat, including articles written exclusively for the AHCJ site, tip sheets from fellow journalists, links to in-depth health coverage, an e-newsletter and much more.

The kickoff meeting of the Chicago chapter of AHCJ drew about 20 people who got a scoop: the first word of a report on Medicare-funded hospices by the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. An OIG staff member gave a summary, highlighting findings on Illinois hospices - all in advance of the report's official release.

New strategies for covering local hospitals' quality of care and financial soundness were among the topics spotlighted during the "2007 Gnat Line News Briefing: Real Health and Medical News for Working Reporters."

Twenty journalism organizations – representing more than 25,000 journalists – today joined the Association of Health Care Journalists in asking the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to stop using video news releases that have the appearance of authentic news reports. AHCJ President Andrew Holtz made the request in a telephone call to HHS spokesman William Pierce on Tuesday.