About AHCJ: General News

Five journalists named 2014 Reporting Fellows on Health Care Performance Date: 11/26/13

AHCJ Reporting Fellowships on Health PerformanceCOLUMBIA, Mo. – The Association of Health Care Journalists has awarded five journalists AHCJ Reporting Fellowships on Health Care Performance. The program, in its fourth year, is meant to help journalists understand and report on the performance of local health care markets and the U.S. health system as a whole.

The fellowship program, supported by The Commonwealth Fund, is intended to give experienced print, broadcast and online reporters an opportunity to concentrate on the performance of health care systems – or significant parts of those systems – locally, regionally or nationally. The fellows are able to examine policies, practices and outcomes, as well as the roles of various stakeholders.

The 2014 fellows will be:

  • Karen Brown, a reporter and producer at New England Public Radio, will study how primary care physicians are being prepared for a future that puts them at the center of an increasingly complex health landscape.

  • David Pittman, a Washington correspondent for MedPage Today, will compare state Medicaid models and the impact of innovations aimed at improving health care quality while lowering costs.

  • Sarah Gantz, a staff writer at the Baltimore Business Journal, will examine how Maryland’s unique all-payer system impacts the number, type, quality and financial condition of hospitals in Baltimore.

  • Michaela Gibson Morris, a health care reporter with the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, will focus on the status of the primary care infrastructure in rural Mississippi and what it will take to bolster and maintain it in the future.

  • Lola J. Butcher, an independent journalist in Springfield, Mo., will report on the migration of cancer care from physician-owned clinics and community centers to hospital outpatient departments and how it affects patients, oncologists, hospitals and payers, especially Medicare.

The fellows will continue in their jobs during the coming year, but also receive customized training, mentoring and financial support for field reporting and conference and workshop attendance. With the support of the program, and their own news outlets, they are expected to complete significant and unique reporting projects by the end of 2014.

The Association of Health Care Journalists is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing public understanding of health care issues. With about 1,500 members across the United States and around the globe, its mission is to improve the quality, accuracy and visibility of health care reporting, writing and editing. The association and its Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism provide training, resources and a professional home for journalists. Offices are based at the Missouri School of Journalism.

The Commonwealth Fund is a private foundation that aims to promote a high-performing health care system that achieves better access, improved quality and greater efficiency, particularly for society's most vulnerable. The Fund carries out this mandate by supporting independent research on health care issues and making grants to improve health care practice and policy. The Fund is based in New York City.