Modern Healthcare Freelance Market Guide

Fees: Fees are by the project, not the word, and vary depending on the nature of the assignment. For example, the publication paid a freelancer $2,500 to write 100 brief profiles of the most influential people in health care; each profile was four or five sentences long. 

Submit to: Editor-in-chief Mary Ellen Podmolik at me.podmolik@modernhealthcare.com

Website: www.modernhealthcare.com

Owner: Crain Communications, a privately held media company that owns 24 brands, including Automotive News, Ad Age and Modern Healthcare.

Readership demographics: Readers include health care systems and hospitals, consultants, government officials, insurance companies, tech firms and vendors to the industry.

Frequency of publication: The print magazine is published monthly and the website is updated throughout the day.

What editors look for in a pitch: Podmolik is not looking for pitches at this time. Modern Healthcare typically hires freelancers to write stories and content linked to its awards and recognition programs and is looking to expand its stable of reliable freelancers for these projects.

“For example, we do women leaders every year, and we always freelance out a story on some topic of interest to the industry,” Podmolik said. That could be a story about the pay differential between men and women leaders, she said.

Some of Modern Healthcare’s other awards and recognition programs include top innovators, the best marketing, diversity in health care and 40 under 40.

Rather than pitch Podmolik a story, freelancers should introduce themselves. Include contact information, bylines, links to a few clips and, if possible, to a professional website. She also would like to know if a freelancer has specialized within health care reporting.

Lead time for pitches: Work is usually assigned months in advance. Writers can invoice when they file.