Sunshine Week poll: U.S. government is secretive
Americans think the U.S. government is “secretive” or “very secretive,” according to a poll released in conjunction with National Sunshine Week.
The poll, part of a five-year series of studies into public attitudes toward government openness commissioned by the American Society of News Editors, “found that 70 percent believe that the federal government is either ‘very secretive’ or ’somewhat secretive.’ The largest portion of respondents, 44 percent, said it is ‘very secretive.’”
Attitudes on the openness of the federal government have changed in recent years. In the first poll conducted for National Sunshine Week in 2006, 22 percent of respondents said they believed the federal government was “very secretive.” It rose to 37 percent in 2007, 44 percent in 2008 and then dropped slightly to 40 percent in 2009 at the beginning of the Obama administration.
State and local governments fared better in the public mind: “Only 36 percent believe their local governments are very or somewhat secretive. Forty-eight percent said the same of their state governments.”
The survey was conducted from Feb. 3 to March 9 at the Scripps Survey Research Center at Ohio University under a grant from the Scripps Howard Foundation. The poll has a margin of error of about 4 percentage points.
AHCJ resources
- AHCJ calls on new administration to improve access to federal experts
- Major journalism groups demand agency end newsgathering constraints
- AHCJ objects to federal agencies’ handling of story embargo
- AHCJ calls for better information from hospital accreditation Web site
- Health journalists cite uneven disclosure of H1N1 deaths across country
- AHCJ’s right-to-know resources
Welcome to the latest journalists to join AHCJ
AHCJ welcomes these new members:
- Alsy Acevedo, reporter, El Sentinel-Orlando Sentinel Communications; Orlando, Fla.
- Robin Adams, senior reporter, The Ledger; Lakeland, Fla.
- Ada Alvarez, independent journalist; North Miami, Fla.
- Antigone Barton, independent journalist; Lantana, Fla.
- Manu Bhandari, student, University of Missouri; Columbia, Mo.
- David Boddiger, independent journalist; Chicago
- Suzanne Bohan, science reporter, Contra Costa Times/Bay Area News Group; Richmond, Calif.
- April Choi, student, University of Missouri; Columbia, Mo.
- Megan Clancy, staff writer, California State University, Long Beach; Dana Point, Calif.
- Sonya Collins, student, University of Georgia, Grady College of Journalism; Athens, Ga.
- Claudia Collucci, student, University of Michigan; Ann Arbor, Mich.
- Monya De, student, University of California, Los Angeles; Santa Monica, Calif.
- Hannah Douglas, student, Truman State University; Springfield, Ill.
- Carrie Feibel, health/science reporter, KUHF Houston Public Radio News; Houston
- Antonio Flores-Lobos, editor, Las Noticias; Kingston, N.Y.
- Sylvia Forbes, independent journalist; Fayette, Mo.
- Kathleen Frey, student, University of Georgia; Athens, Ga.
- Denise Fulton, executive editor, IMNG/Elsevier; Kensington, Md.
- Landon Hall, health reporter, The Orange County Register; Santa Ana, Calif.
- Charles Hallman, reporter, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder; Minneapolis, Minn.
- Smith W. Hartley, editor-in-chief, Healthcare Journal of Baton Rouge; Baton Rouge, La.
- James Hataway, student, University of Georgia; Athens, Ga.
- Markian Hawryluk, reporter, Bend Bulletin; Bend, Ore.
- Duke Helfand, editor/staff writer, Los Angeles Times; Los Angeles
- Jessica Hook, student, University of Oregon; Eugene, Ore.
- Devin Katayama, student, Columbia College-Chicago; Chicago
- Toni Lapp, founder/editor, Spectrumconnection.net; Kansas City, Mo.
- Noam Levey, Washington health policy reporter, Los Angeles Times/Tribune Washington Bureau; Washington, D.C.
- Russell Luce, student, Truman State University; Kirksville, Mo.
- Jessica Machetta, broadcast journalist, Learfield Communications, Inc.; Jefferson City, Mo.
- Chasity Mayes, student, Missouri State University; Springfield, Mo.
- Mason McCoy, student, Truman State University; Kirksville, Mo.
- Sarah Moore, student, Truman State University; Fenton, Mo.
- Adi Narayan, independent journalist; Brooklyn, N.Y.
- Victor Perez, director, Radio Kuva Inc.; Gainesville, Fla.
- Ernesto Portillo Jr., editor, La Estrella de Tucson; Tucson, Ariz.
- Belinda Puetz, editor-in-chief, Journal for Nurses in Staff Development; Cantonment, Fla.
- Dave Raiford, asst. managing editor, HealthLeaders-Interstudy; Nashville, Tenn.
- Farida Romero, associate producer/reporter, Radio Bilingue; Berkeley, Calif.
- Ryan Sabalow, health reporter, Redding Record Searchlight; Redding, Calif.
- Sananda Sahoo, student, University of Missouri; Washington, D.C.
- Stephanie Schupska, graduate student, University of Georgia; Athens, Ga.
- Gale Scott, independent journalist; Cranbury, N.J.
- Julie Sneider, independent journalist; Waukesha, Wis.
- Jean Virgile Tasse Themes, graduate student, Columbia University-Chicago; Chicago
- Conjivaram Vidya Shankar, independent journalist; Chennai, India
- Kelly Von Lunen, editor/health reporter, VFW Magazine; Kansas City, Mo.
- Stacy Weiner, health writer, Dell Perot; Fairfax, Va.
- Daniel Weintraub, editor, HealthyCal.org; Sacramento, Calif.
- Linda Wilson, independent journalist; McHenry, Ill.
- Fernaudo Zapari, editor, El Mexicano Newspaper; Fort Wayne, Ind.
- Erica Zucco, student, University of Missouri; Columbia, Mo.
If you haven’t joined yet, see what member benefits you’re missing out on: Access to more than 50 journals and databases, tip sheets and articles from your colleagues on how they’ve reported stories, conferences, workshops, online training, reporting guides and more. Join AHCJ today to get a wealth of support and tools to help you.
AP story focuses on overuse of medical treatments
Lindsey Tanner of The Associated Press addresses the overtesting and overtreatment that have become the focus of several studies and journal articles.
Tanner points to President Obama’s recent medical checkup, during which he had a prostate cancer screening and a virtual colonoscopy - neither of which is normally recommended for patients his age.
Increasingly, experts are questioning whether doctors are practicing “defensive medicine” - ordering tests and treatments to be sure they have covered all the bases even if they are not indicated. Other factors, such as a fee-for-service system and patients who insist on testing and treatments, also come into play.
This week alone, a New England Journal of Medicine study suggested that too many patients are getting angiograms — invasive imaging tests for heart disease — who don’t really need them; and specialists convened by the National Institutes of Health said doctors are too often demanding repeat cesarean deliveries for pregnant women after a first C-section.
Last week, the American Cancer Society cast more doubt on routine PSA tests for prostate cancer. And a few months ago, other groups recommended against routine mammograms for women in their 40s, and for fewer Pap tests looking for cervical cancer.
The focus on overtesting and overtreatment comes the same week CBS News sent out a press release announcing that Early Show anchor Harry Smith underwent a colonoscopy on live television, reported on by Katie Couric. The press release proclaims:
Following Couric’s on-air colonoscopy in 2000, University of Michigan researchers documented a 20% increase in the number of colonoscopies performed across the country, dubbing it “The Couric Effect.”
MMWR: Mass. reform narrowed insurance gap
Filed under: Health care reform, Health data, Studies
Studying data from the Massachusetts Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System has led researchers to conclude that health care legislation in that state has narrowed the gap in insurance coverage for underserved populations. The data did show that “some groups continue to experience lower rates of annual checkup and less access to a personal care provider.”
The percentage of respondents who reported having health insurance rose 5.5%, from 91.3% in the pre-law period to 96.3% in the post-law period.
The report, “Short-Term Effects of Health-Care Coverage Legislation — Massachusetts, 2008″ is in the March 12 issue of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
GAO: FDA designation doesn’t ensure safety
Filed under: Government, Hot Health Headline, Studies
On his blog Cold Truth (and on AOL News), Andrew Schneider brought our attention to the GAO’s recent investigation into the well-known FDA loophole created by the “generally regarded as safe” or GRAS designation.
The GRAS designation is meant to spare manufacturers lengthy and expensive testing that might otherwise slow the flow of new products to market. It’s conferred, Schneider writes, as long as a “scientific panel selected by the manufacturer can rule that no harm will result from the intended use of an additive.”
Schneider’s version of the highlights of the GAO report:
- The FDA generally doesn’t know about most of these determinations of “generally regarded as safe,” or GRAS, because companies are not required to inform the agency.
- The FDA has not taken steps that could help ensure the safety of additives listed as GRAS.
- Food products may contain numerous ingredients, including GRAS substances, making it difficult, if not impossible, for public health authorities to attribute a food safety problem to a specific GRAS additive.
- The FDA does not systematically reconsider the safety of GRAS substances as new information or new methods for evaluating safety become available.
The GAO said nanomaterials and imported additives were of particular concern.
(Hat tip to OMB Watch in general and Matthew Madia in particular)
PR specialist: Health journalists have critical role
Health journalists may be surprised to find support from Paul Oestreicher, a marketing communications consultant and adjunct professor at New York University with experience in the pharmaceutical industry.
Oestreicher makes the case that the health care industry has a vested interest in increasing the public’s health and science literacy - something he says will be supported by “news outlets being repopulated with professional journalists to help carry information forward.”
Though the pharmaceutical industry has suffered from behavioral, communication and performance missteps that have lowered reputation, it is low health literacy among consumers and the decline of science journalism that are fundamental to this problem.
Oestreicher cites numbers that show the pharmaceutical industry is suffering from a poor reputation that will only be helped by the public’s ability to evaluate medical facts and evidence. He also cites articles and a survey done by AHCJ and the Kaiser Family Foundation about the critical need for journalists who understand scientific studies and statistics.
Professional health and science journalists must help to communicate the progress and the failures, and to differentiate the facts and evidence from the frauds and junk science. Unfortunately, we’ve seen surveys confirm what we already know about the state of health and science journalism over the past few months. It’s a shrinking, wounded profession. We know the symptoms – they’ve been well documented. Like the global economy, journalism needs a recovery plan.
Study: C. diff. on the rise among children
A study published in the April 2010 issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases finds the incidence of Clostridium difficile appears to be increasing in children. Other studies have found the diarrhea-causing bacterium is becoming “more severe and complicating many hospitalizations” among adults but this study found that “between 1997 and 2006, the rates of hospitalization for C. difficile in children nearly doubled.”
Researchers reported a low rate of C. diff. among newborns, which they say supports the concept that the bacteria does not cause disease among newborns.However, the study concludes that “In contrast, the relatively high rate of CDI-related hospitalizations among non-newborn infants indicates an urgent need for studies to determine how often C. difficile causes true disease in this population.”
Clostridium difficile Infection among Hospitalized Children, United States, 1997-2006
M.D. Zilberberg et al.
Related
CDC’s Overview of Clostridium difficile Infections
MedlinePlus information
WebMD, Eli Lilly and a quiz about depression
Filed under: Conflicts of interest, Health journalism
Sen. Chuck Grassley, the prolific writer of public letters who often assumes the mantle of health consumer advocate, is at it again. This time he’s taking on consumer health information giant WebMD, whose ties with Eli Lilly seem to stretch back for some time. At issue is a WebMD quiz that purported to determine a user’s risk of depression. The fishy part? Until WebMD modified the quiz following Grassley’s letter and other outcry, even users who answered “no” to every question would be given the warning that “You may be at risk for major depression.”
As Daniel Carlat points out on his blog, the following disclaimer appeared at the top of the page: “This content is selected and controlled by WebMD’s editorial staff and is funded by Lilly USA.” As Carlat points out, 9 of the 10 symptoms in the quiz are taken from standard diagnostic criteria, but the one that isn’t (which relates to physical pain) just happens to dovetail perfectly with the pain-relief market Lilly is trying to carve out for Cymbalta.
Because Lilly markets Cymbalta as the “go to” antidepressant for patients who have both depression and physical pain. This is not really a “depression screening test” at all. Instead, it is a “Cymbalta-requester” screening test.
WebMD is telling the public a big lie. The say that “this content is selected and controlled by WebMD’s editorial staff” when in fact the crucial aches and pains questions was selected by Eli Lilly’s marketing team to encourage patients to ask their doctors for Cymbalta.
Grassley’s letter requested that WebMD respond with the details of their relationship to Eil Lilly by March 4. I didn’t find any evidence that such a response has yet been received.
Express-News investigates Texas nursing homes
Filed under: Hospitals, Hot Health Headline, Public records
San Antonio Express-News reporters Karisa King, John Tedesco and Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje took advantage of a number of tools to assemble a broad investigation into the city’s nursing homes.
Slow action on nursing home problems
In the package’s centerpiece, the reporters plowed through 2,200 claims filed against the town’s 55 licensed nursing homes from 2006 to 2009 and found that investigators arrived long after the incidents in question and marked so many claims “unsubstantiated” that the state attorney general posted a notice advising residents that they should take even unsubstantiated claims into account when evaluating nursing homes. They also consulted ratings and visited 10 local nursing homes.
With the ratings as a guide, the newspaper examined more than 3,000 pages of abuse and neglect investigations and annual inspections of 10 nursing homes with the lowest scores. It also reviewed dozens of wrongful-death lawsuits filed against local nursing homes to examine how Texas watches over its elderly.
In addition to a few dangerous homes and some disquieting anecdotes, the reporters found an unenforced reporting law:
(Department of Aging and Disability Services) also is failing to enforce a state law that requires nursing homes to report details about every resident who dies. State officials are supposed to analyze the fatality reports to publicize problems and trends, but that research isn’t being done.
To top off this tale of dysfunction, they also unearthed at least five cases in which would-be nursing home whistle blowers were fired.
Stoeltje added a sidebar on nursing home rating systems, their utility and their shortcomings. She addresses both the local Texas system and the federal Nursing Home Compare database. She talks to both nursing home operators and patient advocates; the operators tend to dwell on ratings’ weaknesses while advocates spoke on their strengths.
LIST: Examples of problems found at nursing homes
Six more examples culled from complaints and often backed with interviews.
MAP: Quality of nursing homesA Yahoo! map linking nursing home location, size and rating.
Texas Public Radio
Terry Gildea, host of a news discussion program called “The Source,” interviewed all three Express-News reporters about their investigation.
Slim guide:
Covering the Health of Local Nursing Homes
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.
• More investigations of nursing homes
• Aging Nation: Troublesome Health Care Issues
• Headlines an advocate for seniors would like to see
• The impact of aging upon health care
• Covering nursing homes and other issues of aging
• How will retiring boomers affect the national health agenda?
• You Can Run, but You Can’t Hide: Policy and Problems in Long-Term Care
• Biology of Aging: Sources and Resources
Some Mass. hospital quality measures online
Elizabeth Cooney, writing on White Coat Notes, alerts us to a change in data provided by the Massachusetts Hospital Association and the Massachusetts Organization of Nurse Executives.
PatientCareLink, the new site, adds examples of hospitals improving their performance and, for patients, gives advice on choosing a doctor or hospital, according to Cooney.
The site allows you to view hospital staffing plans and performance measures, such as prevalence of bedsores, patient falls, heart attack care, pneumonia care and surgical care.
Some of the data comes from Hospital Compare (also participating hospitals. And there’s no apparent way to download the data for analysis, as you can from the Hospital Compare site (and AHCJ).
Of course, ratings of Massachusett’s hospitals also are available from the Massachusetts Health Care Quality and Cost Council.
-
Awards for Excellence in Health Care JournalismDeadline: Feb. 3
- How I did it: Falsified charts in nursing homes linked to patient care
- Access Denied: Looking at a lack of health care availability
- Transparency & medical errors: Public reporting of patient harm is a potent force
- Focus on freelancing: Tips for buying liability insurance
- Why do some patients get stuck in hospitals for weeks, months?
- Investigate health professionals and the boards that regulate them
- Presidents of AHCJ, SPJ call for more openness from Obama administration
