Join our updated workshop on medical studies at #ahcj19 — covering the basics plus policy and, yes, biostats-made-easy

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Tara Haelle

About Tara Haelle

Tara Haelle (@TaraHaelle) is AHCJ's medical studies core topic leader, guiding journalists through the jargon-filled shorthand of science and research and enabling them to translate the evidence into accurate information.

If you are joining us for Health Journalism 2019 in Baltimore in a few weeks, be sure to arrive in time to attend the Thursday morning workshop on reporting on medical studies.

For those not attending any field trips, you have the opportunity to come and hear from two new speakers this year who will expand our discussion of medical research coverage to cost effectiveness, policy and patient-centered outcomes studies, plus some extra diving into understanding those intimidating biostats in studies! Continue reading →

Diverse elders and caregivers need culturally relevant support

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Liz Seegert

About Liz Seegert

Liz Seegert (@lseegert), is AHCJ’s topic editor on aging. Her work has appeared in NextAvenue.com, Journal of Active Aging, Cancer Today, Kaiser Health News, the Connecticut Health I-Team and other outlets. She is a senior fellow at the Center for Health Policy and Media Engagement at George Washington University and co-produces the HealthCetera podcast.

Despite the growing numbers of elders from different races, ethnicities, and sexual orientations, many of these older individuals are still marginalized when it comes to finding or accessing services and supports. That’s also true for those family members who care for them, according to a panel of experts at the recent Aging in America conference in New Orleans. Continue reading →

Some advance work can help freelancers make the most of #ahcj19 conference

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Cynthia Craft

About Cynthia Craft

Cynthia Craft (@cynthiahcraft) is the director of engagement for AHCJ, joining the organization after an extensive career in daily journalism, including a decade on the health care beat. Craft most recently worked as a senior writer at The Sacramento Bee, having also worked for the Los Angeles Times, Dallas Times Herald and the California Journal.

So far, it’s looking as if our upcoming Health Journalism 2019 conference in Baltimore May 2-5 is going to be one of our largest and busiest info-packed gatherings ever.

As the event grows nearer, here’s a handy checklist to help independent journalists, in particular, get ready.

Before the conference, you’ll want to go to our online freelance directory to: Continue reading →

Addressing the cost of the health reform wars

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Joanne Kenen

About Joanne Kenen

Joanne Kenen, (@JoanneKenen) the health editor at Politico, is AHCJ’s topic leader on health reform and curates related material at healthjournalism.org. She welcomes questions and suggestions on health reform resources and tip sheets at joanne@healthjournalism.org. Follow her on Facebook.

The ceaseless political warfare over health care, ironically, has become a big obstacle to … fixing health care.

Because what Americans care most about is cost – and we can’t fix the rest of our coverage problems without also addressing cost. And we, as a nation, are not really talking about cost. The president’s budget would slash entitlement spending, particularly on Medicaid. But like all presidential budgets – it’s not going to pass and lowering federal spending on old, poor and sick people isn’t going to make the costs of taking care of old, poor and sick people go away. Continue reading →

Announcing the 2019 AHCJ-Colorado Health Journalism Fellows

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Len Bruzzese

About Len Bruzzese

Len Bruzzese is the executive director of AHCJ and its Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. He also is an associate professor at the Missouri School of Journalism and served for nearly 20 years in daily journalism.

Congratulations to our AHCJ-Colorado Health Journalism fellows, who will be attending Health Journalism 2019.

We were able to support these fellows this year thanks to funding from the Colorado Health Foundation. Continue reading →

Are you battle-ready? Let’s share strategies at AHCJ 2019 for social media finesse in an age of ‘alternative facts’

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Tara Haelle

About Tara Haelle

Tara Haelle (@TaraHaelle) is AHCJ's medical studies core topic leader, guiding journalists through the jargon-filled shorthand of science and research and enabling them to translate the evidence into accurate information.

Brian Southwell

You’ve laced up your combat boots and fastened your helmet. Your Kevlar vest is safely snug against your chest. Your emergency first aid kit is nearby, with a couple different sedatives and anti-anxiety meds, potable alcohol, and multiple tissue boxes. You are ready to go on Twitter. Let the battle begin.

While yes, I jest, it’s no joke that the divisiveness and flood of falsehoods on Twitter can be maddening and even emotionally (not to mention cognitively) exhausting. You could spend 24-7 on Twitter correcting misconceptions, exaggerations and flat-out lies and make less impact than a drop of water on a wildfire. And that’s while pretending that Facebook, Pinterest and other sites don’t exist. Continue reading →