About AHCJ: General News

2016 AHCJ Reporting Fellows on Health Care Performance named Date: 12/01/15

AHCJ Reporting Fellows on Health Care Performance

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Association of Health Care Journalists has awarded AHCJ Reporting Fellowships on Health Care Performance to five journalists who intend to pursue significant projects in 2016. The program, in its sixth 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 2016 fellows will be:

  • DAN DIAMOND (@ddiamond) will write about health care policy for Politico and be the author of "Pulse," beginning in January 2016. A contributor to Forbes on health-related topics, he was previously executive editor of the Advisory Board’s flagship newsletter Daily Briefing. His project for Politico will examine certain cities, which despite hosting world-class medical centers, have incredible health disparities. He will compare them to more successful cities and focus on whether community benefit endeavors help the poorest neighborhoods.

  • GLENN HOWATT (@GlennHowatt) is a health care reporter at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, where he has also served as the computer-assisted reporting editor. His project will take a geographic approach to diversity of care in the Twin Cities by mapping disparities by Census tract to provide as detailed a picture of neighborhood life expectancy and mortality as possible.

  • STEPHANIE INNES (@stephanieinnes) is a senior reporter covering health on the (Tucson) Arizona Daily Star’s investigative team. She has covered religion, American Indian issues and has taught reporting at the University of Arizona. Her project will explain how difficult it is to make a well-informed decision in choosing an Arizona hospital, nursing home or assisted-living facility based on inadequate and hard-to-find patient-safety information and wants to create reader tool kits for overcoming these hurdles.

  • JOANN MAR is a longtime reporter and now producer at KALW-San Francisco. She has worked as an attorney and adjunct professor in broadcast journalism. Her project will detail the state of end-of-life care for the terminally ill and whether it has changed or improved since a 1995 landmark study found the majority of Americans spent the end of their lives in pain and suffering.

  • MISTY WILLIAMS (@AJCHealthcare) is a health care policy reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She formerly covered business and real estate issues on both coasts. Her project will examine access to mental health care for children in Georgia, what a lack of treatment means for their families and their futures, and the ramifications for the state of Georgia.

The fellows will continue in their current 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 2016.

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.