Calendar

This online meeting, co-hosted by The Commonwealth Fund's Quality of Care for Frail Elders program and the Pioneer Network, will present the findings of The Commonwealth Fund 2007 Survey of Nursing Homes, and assess ongoing efforts to spread resident-centered care or "culture change" within the nursing home industry.

The San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of AHCJ will hold this panel discussion, exploring a timely topic that deserves more local coverage. Thousands of veterans are coming home with serious injuries, especially post-traumatic stress disorder, brain trauma, and physical disabilities. Are local medical and mental health resources adequate to handle their needs?

Veterans Affairs, in collaboration with Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs) and other partners, is hosting this event as part of National VA Research Week. Presentations will include information about research on schizophrenia, diabetes, brain-computer interface, women's issues and more.

AAPA's annual conference will be in San Antonio.

The theme of this year's conference, put on by the Global Health Council, is "Community Health: Delivering, Engaging, Serving, Leading." Experts in the development of new products and medicines, as well as implementers and leaders from communities themselves, will present best practices, examine challenges and opportunities, and discuss the policy hurdles to ensuring that community health is supported.

AHCJ's Chicago chapter presents this session in which attendees will learn how to address the challenges of writing accurate, balanced and complete stories on deadline despite biased sources and commercial pressures in the medical industry. The speakers will use real stories as examples to show how it doesn't take an extra thousand words of type or 10 minutes of air to write a solid medical story.

The National Association of State Medicaid Directors will meet in Oklahoma City.

The meeting will host 7,000 scientists discussing endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism.

Sessions will explore the health issues of children, seniors and immigrants in urban settings, as well as topics such as obesity, mental health, disaster preparedness and the mapping of local health data. Come get the tools to better investigate, understand and relate the health of your city.

The National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care is a meeting place for people committed to the mission of improving health care. This annual event draws approximately 6,500 health care leaders from around the world in person and thousands more via satellite broadcast.

This event will be videocast.
Barnett Kramer, M.D., M.P.H., associate director for disease prevention, NIH, will address "Cancer Screening: The Intuition Versus the Science." Kramer has extensive experience in cancer treatment studies, primary prevention studies, as well as clinical screening trials of lung, ovarian, breast and prostate cancers. He is medical officer for two large cancer screening trials sponsored by the National Cancer Institute: the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, Ovarian (PLCO) Trial; and the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST).

The webcast will take a closer look at state-based efforts to improve access to care and outcomes for minority populations, including the work of states such as Massachusetts, Georgia and Ohio. The panelists will also touch on how these initiatives fit into a state's larger health reform efforts, and the role of the federal government.

HHS' Office on Disability and Cleveland Clinic's Center for Neurological Restoration will hold a one-day conference on May 6 to focus on the impact DBS, or brain pacemakers, has on patients' quality of life, level of functioning and return to work. Topics will also include improving access to care, encouraging medical innovation and research and examining ethical considerations.

The theme for the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting is "Our Voice in Action: Advancing Science, Care and the Profession."

AHCJ's Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism will present the workshop, which will focus on special health concerns of America's rural populations and how reporters can better cover them.

This conference is designed to help journalists navigate the complex scientific, medical and political issues involved with global health, to assess what's working and what's not, and make these stories meaningful to local audiences.

The conference will examine the past, present and future of Medicare, with keynote addresses from Peter Orszag, PhD, the Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and Mark B. McClellan, MD, PhD, a former Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid and a former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. The conference will be web cast live at www.utexas.edu/lbj/webcasts, on the day of the event.

This teleconference will release a national survey of public health directors regarding climate change readiness in local communities. Climate change is a concern to most local public health directors but few have resources to tackle the problem, according to the national survey conducted by National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO), Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and George Mason University.

The conference is expected to draw more than 2,000 CEOs, senior executives and government officials from the nation's largest employers, hospitals, health systems, health plans, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and leading government agencies.

The National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD) initiative is a collaborative effort of national, state and community organizations committed to ensuring that all adults with decision-making capacity in the United States have the information and opportunity to communicate and document their health care decisions.

Nearly 600 people attended Health Journalism 2008 for dozens of panels on medical research, public health, the business of health care and consumer health. They also hear actor Dennis Quaid's very personal perspective on medical errors, Elizabeth Edwards' take on John McCain's health care plan, top experts debate the future of health care in this country and much more. News briefings by HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt and officials from the American Public Health Association and its partners let attendees write stories for their news outlets during the conference.

The Commonwealth Fund's Program on Quality of Care for Underserved Populations is hosting this online meeting, "Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care: A New Chartbook." Presenters include: chartbook co-author Bruce Siegel, M.D., M.P.H., research professor at George Washington University; Dora Hughes, M.D., M.P.H., health policy adviser to Senator Barack Obama; and Carolyn Clancy, M.D., director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

This Chicago chapter event featured two doctors who specialize in treating addictions.

Medical device and health care technology companies from Maryland to Florida will gather at the conference, which will feature panel discussions, expert commentaries and networking opportunities for medical technology companies, investors and service providers.

USC's Annenberg School for Communication is calling for applications for its national health journalism seminars - application deadline is March 3 for the April 13-18 seminar. Based in Los Angeles, The California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships are open to professional print, broadcast and multimedia journalists from around the country who have a passion for health news.

The National Institutes of Health presents a free annual training opportunity to help develop journalists' ability to critically evaluate and report on medical research.

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt will present the president's HHS budget for fiscal year 2009 at 1 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 4, in the auditorium of the Humphrey Building, 200 Independence Ave., SW, in Washington, D.C.

This panel will tap into cutting-edge news, research, and innovations developing in the Bay Area. If you write about any health aspect of the boomer generation, you won't want to miss this event. Panelists include Laura L. Carstensen, professor of psychology and director of the Stanford Center on Longevity, and Bay Area journalist Paul Kleyman, editor of the American Society on Aging's publication Aging Today and the national coordinator of the Journalists Exchange on Aging.

Latest data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) on HIV infection in the U.S. general population, including discussion related to its association with Herpes simplex-virus type 2 (HSV-2) infection.

This report is the comprehensive annual report on mortality in the U.S., a follow-up to the preliminary report and the much shorter Health E-stat version.

This report looks at 2004 mortality data as well as trend data on annual flu and pneumonia vaccination coverage and differences among Hispanic, non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic black populations.

Andrew Dillon, chief executive of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, will meet with British and American reporters to discuss his agency's role in advising the UK's National Health Service on the cost-effectiveness of medical treatments, and some of the subsequent rumbles across the Atlantic.

Enjoy complimentary light refreshments and a casual, meet-and-mingle gathering. The holiday party will be hosted this year by KQED Public Radio's The California Report, producers of "Heath Dialogues."

The 2007-08 fellows will pay a visit to the Centers for Disease Control. They will take part in two days of educational sessions, briefings and tours with CDC personnel.

For the first time, Florida health reporters will gather to share tips, ideas and meet some of the state's top health regulators. The gathering also will serve as an exploratory meeting to discuss the possible formation of an AHCJ Florida Chapter. All Florida health reporters are invited. You do not have to be an AHCJ member to attend.

The Chicago chapter of the Association of Health Care Journalists held an after-work gathering where AHCJ board member Mary Chris Jaklevic, who edited the new AHCJ guide "Covering Obesity: A Guide for Reporters," discussed the book and AHCJ board member Carla K. Johnson gave an update and answered questions about AHCJ nationally and in Chicago.

The New York chapter heard from five speakers about conflicts of interest in health care. The event, at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, examined how to recognize potential conflicts, including marketing vs. education, the pharmaceutical industry's gift giving to doctors and how it might affect prescribing habits and similar issues.

AHCJ - and its Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism - held its first Urban Health Journalism Workshop. Sessions explored the health issues of children, seniors and immigrants in urban settings, as well as obesity, mental health, disaster preparedness and the mapping of local health data.

Get MP3 and Flash presentations from the 2007 Urban Health Journalism Workshop. Topics include the health issues of children, seniors and immigrants in urban settings, as well as obesity, mental health, disaster preparedness and the mapping of local health data.

At 11 a.m. ET, former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) will be webcast live during the first of the "Health Care 2008: Presidential Candidate Forums."

Three dozen journalists gathered at the San Francisco Chronicle for a workshop on multicultural health issues in the Bay Area.

Covering disparities in health and health care is not the same as reporting the latest drug trial or diet advice. Culture, history, money and biology intertwine to influence health and health care. This workshop builds on AHCJ's recently published multicultural health resource guide, which was supported by The California Endowment, to help you sharpen your skills, learn practical tips, and avoid lurking traps in this important, yet underreported area. Experienced journalists share their hard-earned lessons. Health experts flag common errors and misconceptions, while also providing an overview of what researchers really know.

Multimedia presentations are now available from this workshop, the third of its kind presented in California by AHCJ over the past year, was sponsored by The California Endowment. Logistical support also came from The Maynard Institute for Journalism Education.

Bay Area members gathered to hear from three panelists about "Universal health coverage in California and the U.S.: Will it happen, when, and what will it look like?"

Audio is now available from the AHCJ San Francisco Bay Area Chapter meeting on Sept. 5 at the Kaiser Family Foundation about "Universal health coverage in California and the U.S.: Will it happen, when, and what will it look like?"

Training event for the 2007-08 Midwest Health Journalism Program fellows.

Kickoff training event for the 2007-08 Midwest Health Journalism Program fellows.

Washington, D.C., members gathered for a brown-bag lunch and panel discussion on drug safety regulation and the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA), which is currently in conference committee in Congress.

The Chicago chapter will meet at 6 p.m. at Columbia College to hear about the future of health care reform from two speakers.

AHCJ and the Kaiser Family Foundation hosted this interactive roundtable webcast on March 6, 2007. Trudy Lieberman, president of AHCJ's board of directors, moderates a panel of experts discussing what journalists need to know about covering SCHIP.

With the State Children's Health Insurance Plan (SCHIP) up for reauthorization, this roundtable - a partnership between the Association of Health Care Journalists and the Kaiser Family Foundation - focuses on what journalists need to know about covering SCHIP in their states. Health reform proposals announced by would-be presidential candidates call for expanding coverage through SCHIP.

Hospital emergency rooms are under siege. Some inner city hospitals are losing on-call specialists to treat severely injured patients or must pay high prices to keep them. In some parts of the country, ambulance diversions are continuing. So are wallet biopsies which telegraph to hospitals who can pay and who cannot. Changes to Medicaid mandated by the Deficit Reduction Act could affect the care those on Medicaid will receive. Technology and emergency room care will become more expensive, raising the question: “Who will fund this place of last resort as the move to market-driven health care rushes ahead? “

Bay Area health care writers, editors, reporters and authors gathered at the 13 Views bar at the top of the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero for a Health Journalism Schmooze.

A roundtable focusing on the new Medicare prescription drug benefit known as Part D, designed to help Medicare beneficiaries pay for their medications.

This roundtable focuses on health savings accounts and related approaches advocated by the Bush Administration and others to address rising health care costs and lack of coverage for the uninsured. Webcast and transcript available.