Tag Archives: #ahcj17

Making a strong case for attending the upcoming AHCJ conference

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Sammy Caiola, a health journalist in Sacramento, is nothing if not prepared. As far back as December, Caiola had delivered a memo to her editor, making the case to approve her attendance at Health Journalism 2018, AHCJ’s annual conference.

The Phoenix training event would be Caiola’s third AHCJ conference, and she figured her best argument was to outline exactly what she’d gotten out of the first two.

Editors can be funny people. Not in the comedic sense, but a bit persnickety. I know. I was an editor for half of my journalism career before joining AHCJ’s staff last fall.

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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.

For radio reporter, a Health Journalism 2017 panel comes to life

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Photo courtesy of Avery Schneider, WBFOAvery Schneider, NPR member station WBFO’s lead health reporter, found useful inspiration in a Health Journalism 2017 panel on health disparities and costs. Months later, it led him to a barber shop in Western New York to report on how one program is targeting barber shops to expand access to cardiovascular health care.

In the midst of a conference, sometimes the story is hard to see – or hear.

But for one AHCJ member, Avery Schneider of Western New York’s WBFO, a panel discussion on the social determinants of health helped ignite a story idea months later when contacted about a new health program in the area. Continue reading →

Susan Heavey, (@susanheavey) a Washington, D.C.-based journalist, is AHCJ’s topic leader on social determinants of health and curates related material at healthjournalism.org. She welcomes questions and suggestions on resources and tip sheets at determinants@healthjournalism.org.

Examining efforts to lower cost of caring for seniors at home

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Photo by Boris Bartels via Flickr

It’s long been known that 5 percent of all Medicare patients account for more than half of Medicare spending.

In addition, the top 1 percent of the sickest and most vulnerable Medicare patients consume 23 percent of Medicare resources, largely because of the severity of their illness but also because their conditions frequently are not managed well. Repeatedly they travel a painful journey among hospital emergency departments, nursing homes and hospital readmissions, in the process racking up huge medical bills, exposing themselves to hospital-acquired infections and bedsores. In the process, they often lose control of their lives. Continue reading →

Mark Taylor is an independent health care journalist based near Chicago. Taylor was legal affairs reporter for Modern Healthcare magazine and writes for newspapers, as well as Medicare NewsGroup and Hospitals & Health Networks. He is a former Kaiser Media Fellow and a founding member of AHCJ.

Refugees, undocumented immigrants often face ’roundabout care’

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Photo: Susan Heavey/AHCJThe Hastings Center’s Nancy Berlinger discussed health issues that refugees and undocumented immigrants face in the United States at a #AHCJ17 panel that included Bassem Chaaban (right) of the Islamic Society of Central Florida.

For Ghassan, a Syrian refugee seeking asylum after arriving in the United States about two years ago, a recent visit to the emergency room was not a choice but a necessity.

Without access to health insurance coverage, the Syrian father who had fled the war there found himself receiving charity care following an accident. Later, problems with his knee again put him on the receiving end of care without coverage. He had worked for 20-some years in Syria, he said, but found it hard to work with his leg pain. Continue reading →

Susan Heavey, (@susanheavey) a Washington, D.C.-based journalist, is AHCJ’s topic leader on social determinants of health and curates related material at healthjournalism.org. She welcomes questions and suggestions on resources and tip sheets at determinants@healthjournalism.org.

Changes in health care landscape could mean big stories in oral health

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Photo: Pia Christensen/AHCJPanelist Mary Foley focused on the potential changes in financing of oral health programs that serve the public during a discussion at Health Journalism 2017.

It is hard to know, amid the ongoing battle to reshape the nation’s health care system, what the future holds for dental care.

Panelists at Health Journalism 2017 tackled the unknown yet crucial territory that lies ahead in a session entitled “Oral Health Stories to Watch in 2017.” Speakers encouraged the reporters in the audience to remember to ask good questions about dental services as they cover their beats in the months ahead. Continue reading →

Mary Otto, a Washington, D.C.-based freelancer, is the author of "Teeth: The Story of Beauty, Inequality, and the Struggle for Oral Health in America."