Association of Health Care Journalists

ATA EDGE2022 Policy Conference
2022-12-07 01:00 (America/New_York)
The American Telemedicine Association’s EDGE2022 Policy Conference includes sessions from leaders in the rapidly evolving telehealth policy fields and policymakers working to advance telehealth as a permanent care delivery option. For more information, visit this webpage.
When: December 7-9
Where: Washington, D.C
Media contact: For media registration or to interview one of the speakers, contact Gina Cella at gcella@americantelemed.org or 781-799-3137.

Applications open for Cancer Journalism Award
2022-12-07 01:00
The AACR June L. Biedler Prize For Cancer Journalism was established in 2015 to raise awareness of the role that the media play in educating the public about cancer and cancer research. The prize provides an unrestricted cash award of $5,000 and a commemorative award. It is open to print, broadcast and online professional journalists whose stories appeared in platforms that target lay public audiences. Submissions must have been published or broadcast between January 1, 2020 and November 30, 2022.
Sponsor: American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
Application deadline: December 7, 2022
Visit this webpage for additional instructions.

Covering Maternal Health in Post-Roe America
2022-12-05 01:00
Kavli Conversations are hosted by NYU’s Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program with support from the Kavli Foundation. Events are open to the public. Online livestream will begin at 6:30pm ET.
With speakers Diana Greene Foster and Shefali Luthra. Moderated by Anna Rothschild.
Diana Greene Foster is a demographer at the University of California San Francisco who studies the effects of unintended pregnancy on women’s lives.
Shefali Luthra covers the intersection of gender and health for The 19th. She previously covered health policy for Kaiser Health News.
Anna Rothschild is a science presenter, video producer, and journalist. She is the senior video producer at ABC’s FiveThirtyEight, where she also hosted the COVID podcast, PODCAST-19.
When/Where: December 5, 2022 at 6:30pm at 20 Cooper Square, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10003 or join the livestream at journalism.nyu.edu/kc
Find more information about the event visit this webpage.

Model legislation would discourage physicians from leaving health insurance networks
2022-11-29 01:00
The National Academy for State Health Policy is hosting a webinar to explain its new model legislation designed to limit out-of-network provider rates and thus discourage health care providers from abandoning health insurance plans. The ultimate goal is to lower costs to consumers.
Sponsor: National Academy for State Health PolicyDate: Tuesday, November 29, 2022, 3:30-4:30 p.m. ETWhere: OnlineCost: None
Panelists:

Erin Fuse Brown, Catherine C. Henson Professor of Law and Director, Center for Law, Health & Society, Georgia State University

Michael Chernew, Leonard D. Schaeffer Professor of Health Care Policy and Director, Healthcare Markets and Regulation Lab, Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School

Bob Murray, President, Global Health Payment LLC

Margaret Smith-Isa, Program Development Specialist, Oregon Public Employees’ Benefit Board & Oregon Educators’ Benefit Board, Oregon Health Authority

Registration information: https://www.nashp.org/webinar-new-nashp-model-legislation/

Inaugural Journalism & Women Symposium Health Journalism Fellowship
2022-11-07 01:00
The Journalism & Women Symposium (JAWS) in partnership with The Commonwealth Fund is offering a health journalism fellowship for emerging and early career journalists interested in improving their health care reporting skills. Six fellows will be trained and supported as they complete an extensive project on a key component of health care.
The fellowship includes a reporting grant of $4,000, mentoring by an experienced health journalist, complimentary one-year membership to JAWS and complimentary registration and travel expenses to CAMP 2023, JAWS annual meeting.
Sponsor: JAWS and The Commonwealth Fund
Application deadline: 5 p.m. ET, Monday, November 7, 2022
More information: https://jaws.org/2022/09/21/jaws-health-journalism-fellowship/

After “Hidden Valley Road:” A conversation with author Robert Kolker
2022-11-02 01:00
1 p.m. CT Wednesday, Nov. 2
When journalist Robert Kolker first learned about the Galvin family through a colleague’s introduction to one of the family members, he didn’t know whether their story had all the elements needed to become a book until he began the reporting. The narrative that unfolded—a family in which six of the 10 sons developed schizophrenia—provided a compelling framework for exploring the history of schizophrenia research from its discovery through the present day.
The result, the highly acclaimed “Hidden Valley Road,” has continued to have an impact even two years after its 2020 publication, particularly in addressing the stigma associated with schizophrenia. Kolker will discuss how the book came about, his realization that it could be a book, how he found and wove medical research into his narrative, and what the book’s current impact has been for both the Galvin family and the understanding of schizophrenia more broadly.
View the webcast
Robert Kolker
Tara Haelle
Robert Kolker is the author of “Hidden Valley Road,” an instant #1 New York Times bestseller and selection of Oprah’s Book Club; and “Lost Girls,” also a New York Times bestseller and New York Times Notable Book. He is a National Magazine Award finalist whose journalism has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Wired, O, the Oprah Magazine, the Marshall Project, Bloomberg Businessweek, and New York magazine.

The Specialized Centers of Research Excellence on Sex Differences (SCORE) Annual Meeting keynote
2022-11-01 01:00
The Specialized Centers of Research Excellence on Sex Differences (SCORE) Annual Meeting keynote address is directed to researchers in the SCORE program and is open to the public; the rest of the meeting will be for SCORE investigators only. The SCORE program is the only NIH cooperative agreement program supporting disease-agnostic research on sex differences. Each center serves as a national resource for translational research to identify the role of biological sex differences in the health of women.
The keynote address will be given by Cara Tannenbaum, M.D., M.Sc., Scientific Director at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Institute of Gender Health, Montreal. Janine Austin Clayton, M.D., FARVO, Director of ORWH, will give opening remarks.
When/Where: 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. EDT, Nov. 1, 2022 (online)
View the Event page with a link to videocast on this webpage.
Find more information about the event here. For more information on the SCORE program, visit this site.

Food Insecurity and Health: Strategies to Address Community Needs
2022-11-01 01:00
More than 34 million people in the United States are food insecure, including 12 million children. Some groups facing disproportionately high rates of food insecurity include children, seniors, Black, Indigenous, and Native American/American Indian communities. Food insecurity has various causes which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as poverty and unemployment, lack of affordable housing, chronic health conditions, and racial discrimination.
This webinar will explore the impact of food insecurity on health and factors reducing access to healthy and affordable food. Experts will discuss solutions such as community-based food system partnerships targeting vulnerable populations. Speakers will address:

The importance of access to nutritious food on health and how food insecurity disproportionately impacts some communities across the nation.

Addressing the social determinants of health through partnerships with health care and community partners.

A health plan’s perspective on ensuring equitable food access, including a $22 million investment to support the Food As Medicine program in the US.

Download a draft agenda.
When/Where:3-4 p.m. ET, Tuesday, November 1, 2022
To register, visit this webpage.
Visit this site for more information and a video about the event.

Deadline: Applications open for Open Notebook fellowship
2022-10-31 01:00
The Open Notebook, a nonprofit whose mission is to help science journalists succeed in their profession, runs a paid, part-time fellowship program for early career science journalists. This ten-month program is ideally suited for freelancers because there is a significant weekly time commitment. Fellows will work with mentors to plan, report and write five articles for publication at The Open Notebook. Expect several rounds of editing.
Sponsor: The Open Notebook, with the support of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund
When/Where: January 30—November 30 each year (online)
Stipend: $5,500
Application deadline: October 31, 2022
For more details, visit The Open Notebook website

2022 Reporting on Violence as a Public Health Issue: An AHCJ Summit
2022-10-27 09:30 - 2022-10-28 13:15 | The Rose Hotel, 5200 Pearl Street, Rosemont, Illinois, 60018, United States
This 1.5-day event will bring together experts and journalists to discuss a wide range of violence and public health topics including:

The groundwork: Everyone knows gun violence is a public health crisis, so why doesn’t more journalism reflect the reality?

Everything you think you know about guns is wrong: Myths, facts and where to find the best research and data

Extreme risk protection orders and “red flag” laws: What reporters should know

The health effects of exposure to chronic violence, especially among children, and the prevalence of indirect exposure to violence

Access to guns and how poor human risk perception plays into gun ownership

The role of clinicians in addressing community violence

What’s happening with hospital-based and other violence intervention programs

Transforming news coverage of gun violence

Reporting with humanity from “walk-through” to publication

Join us on a field trip to one of Chicago’s busiest trauma centers where you’ll meet with trauma surgeons, violence recovery specialists and others who care for patients of all ages who’ve been affected by intentional violence.

This year marks the first time since 2019, when AHCJ welcomed 102 people in Los Angeles, that the organization has hosted its fall summit in person.

“Our aim is to more firmly connect violence to public health and help reframe the stories we tend to see in relation to gun violence, which receive a lot of attention in the breaking news phase and too rarely explore the upstream causes, long-lasting impact, or interventions,” said Katherine Reed, AHCJ’s interim executive director, and director of engagement and content.

HOSTS

SPONSORS

Ask the expert: A Q&A on femtech
2022-10-24 01:00
2 p.m. CT/ 3 p.m. ET, Monday, Oct. 24
In the continuing fallout of the Dobbs decision, questions have been raised about how far law enforcement might reach into private health information via femtech, health care software and tech-enabled products designed to support women’s health. Can “anonymous” modes recently introduced by some companies truly keep users’ information private? And how could the upcoming November elections — 36 states are holding governor contests — impact the industry with abortion a top-of-mind issue for many people?
Bethany Corbin, the femtech practice lead and senior counsel for Nixon Gwilt Law, will take questions for 30 minutes during the webcast, so bring your queries. Corbin is a frequent speaker and writer on femtech, privacy, contract drafting and ethical technology. She also hosts the Legally Femtech podcast.
View the webcast
Bethany Corbin
Karen Blum
Bethany Corbin, femtech practice lead and senior counsel at Nixon Gwilt Law, is a recognized industry expert at the intersection of law and women’s health technology. She empowers pioneering femtech and health care innovation companies to revolutionize care delivery with legal counsel and strategic guidance. In particular, Bethany partners with emerging femtech companies at the forefront of health care transformation to ensure they are building robust, scalable and legally compliant health solutions that are ready to lead the industry.

Covering food insecurity
2022-10-21 01:00
Journalists can find it difficult to cover persistent hunger and lack of access to convenient and affordable healthy foods because of food insecurity’s seeming invisibility. In this webinar, seasoned journalists will give tips for covering this important issue.
Panelists include Alejandro Figueroa of public radio station WYSO; Bridget Huber of the Food and Environment Reporting Network; Lauren Lindstrom, O’Brien Fellow in Public Service Journalism; and Karen Robinson-Jacobs, of Lee Enterprises, a provider of local news.
Sponsor: National Press Club Journalism Institute
When/Where: 11:30 a.m. ET, Friday, October 21 (Zoom)
Cost: freeVisit this webpage to register.

Pushing back against ageism, one story at a time
2022-10-13 01:00
11 a.m. CT/noon ET Thursday, Oct. 13
Ageism is pervasive in our society. And journalists can be as guilty as anyone else of perpetuating ageist tropes. But despite the barrage of negative messages that come at us at home, at work, and even at the supermarket, aging isn’t something sad or depressing that old people do. It’s how we move through life from birth to death; everyone is doing it; and more of us are doing more of it than ever before.
Join author and activist Ashton Applewhite as we discuss ageism and how journalists can avoid ageist stereotypes in their reporting and depict aging in accurate and nuanced ways.
View the webcast

OldSchool.info — one-stop go-to for all things ageism-related, including resources, tools and language guides

Yo, is this Ageist — Ashton’s blog

This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism, by Ashton Applewhite

Breaking the Age Code How Your Beliefs About Aging Determine How Long and Well You Live, by Becca Levy, Ph.D.

Ashton Applewhite
Liz Seegert
An internationally recognized expert on ageism, Ashton Applewhite is the author of “This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism” and a co-founder of the Old School Anti-Ageism Clearinghouse. She speaks widely at venues that have included the United Nations and the TED mainstage, has written for Harper’s, the Guardian, and the New York Times, and is at the forefront of the emerging movement to raise awareness of ageism and to dismantle it.

2022 National Science-Health-Environment Reporting Fellowship
2022-10-06 13:00 - 2023-07-01 13:00
Understanding the fellowship

Applications are now being accepted for the 2022-23 class of the National Science-Health-Environment Reporting Fellowships. (Meet last year’s class)

AHCJ is once again collaborating with the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing and the Society of Environmental Journalists to offer this development opportunity to early-career journalists.

The fellowships are designed to support early-career journalists who are pursuing — or have a strong interest in pursuing — careers in science, health or environmental reporting (or all three).

The program is primarily aimed at journalists in their first decade of professional work, who are interested in boosting their ability and confidence to tackle some of the most important stories of the 21st century.

The program allows fellows to maintain their regular employment while attending intensive training opportunities across the country, many of which will lead to stories for their employer or clients. Fellowship leaders and mentors will provide support and guidance through seminars, calls and e-mail consultations.

Curriculum will include basic science, interpreting medical studies, analyzing data, explaining evidence-based decisions, understanding climate science and more.

The program aspires to provide essential on-the-job training that might otherwise take years to accumulate.

Expectations

Candidates should be early-career, U.S.-based working journalists — either staff or freelance — with at least two years of professional experience.

Fellows will be expected to attend a handful of training events during the program year. Program leaders will decide whether events will take place in person or virtually based on the latest public health considerations, with fellows’ safety always top of mind.

Each employer (or, for a freelancer, a news outlet that is a regular client) will be asked to provide a letter of recommendation for the applicant. Employers are also asked to pledge their support for the fellows’ participation in all training events.

Board members and staffers of the partner organizations are not eligible to apply.

CASW, AHCJ, and SEJ are fully committed to diversity and inclusion in their memberships, training programs, and the larger journalism field. We welcome applicants who support that commitment.

What’s covered

The fellowship provides:

Customized seminars and workshops offered in conjunction with the annual conferences produced by AHCJ, SEJ, and CASW/NASW, including support for conference attendance, food, lodging, and travel within the United States;

A series of virtual events providing skill-building opportunities and updates on stories, resources and new developments across science, health, medicine, and environment, including private breakout discussions with experts and trainers;

Two years’ membership (new or extended) in AHCJ, SEJ and NASW, assuming membership qualifications are met;

Registration to any virtual events held during the program year by AHCJ, SEJ or CASW;

Mentoring opportunities with a senior journalist in a topic area of choice;

Private online site for fellows to refer to training materials, share reporting efforts and network with one another;

For freelancers, a reporting project support stipend of $2,000 after successfully completing the program.

Anticipated schedule

Tentative dates and sites (including whether in-person or virtual), depending upon public health recommendations:

Kick-off seminar, Oct. 6-7, 2022 (to be held via Zoom)

ScienceWriters2022, Memphis, Tenn., Oct. 21-25, 2022

Health Journalism 2023, St. Louis, Mo., March 9-12, 2023

SEJ2023, Boise, Idaho, April 19-23, 2023

Custom webinar briefings held periodically through the year

Career development seminar and graduation (June or July 2023)

Application checklist

Cover letter introducing yourself, your journalism background, efforts at career development, and explaining why you are seeking the fellowship.

A current resume or CV.

A letter of recommendation from your current employer that addresses the benefits of the fellowship to you and the news organization’s audience as well as the employer’s commitment to support your full participation in the fellowship. Freelance applicants should submit a letter of recommendation from a regular client or assigning editor who can speak to your abilities and the value you would derive from participating.

Two sample news or feature stories published or aired during the past 12 months.

The application deadline is Sept. 1, 2022, at 6 p.m. ET, 5 p.m. CT, 3 p.m. PT.

Navigating freelance contracts
2022-10-06 01:00
Noon CT/1 p.m. ET Thursday, Oct. 6
Freelance contracts can be short, simple easy-to-understand agreements, multi-page documents full of legalese or anything in between. They can contain clauses that will cost you money, take away your future rights to the story, delay payment and saddle you with legal responsibilities best avoided.
In this webinar, former journalist and media lawyer Charles Glasser will answer your questions about why contracts are important, language to include and avoid, and how to negotiate the contract you want. Feel free to bring a contract and ask a specific question that can serve as an example for all attendees.
View the webcast
Charles Glasser
Barbara Mantel
Charles Glasser spent 12 years as the global media counsel for Bloomberg News, where he trained more than 2,200 reporters on legal issues and journalism fundamentals. He is now a private legal consultant and teaches law and ethics for investigative journalism at New York University’s Arthur Carter Journalism Center.

Looking Ahead: What We Know Now About Preventing Flu and Pneumococcal Disease
2022-10-04 01:00
The CDC and infectious disease experts will present final flu vaccine coverage data from the 2021-2022 US flu season and will discuss vaccination against flu and pneumococcal disease, particularly among older adults and those with chronic health conditions who are at higher risk for related complications.
The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) will also present results from a new national survey of US adults on vaccination attitudes and behaviors, including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speakers include:

Patricia A. (Patsy) Stinchfield, R.N., M.S., C.P.N.P, NFID president (moderator)
Camille A. Clare, M.D., M.P.H., C.P.E., Chair, Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University; associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, New York Medical College
Alicia M. Fry, M.D., M.P.H., CDC Chief, Epidemiology and Prevention Branch, Influenza Division, José R. Romero, M.D., director, CDC National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases
William Schaffner, M.D., NFID medical director, Jeb S. Teichman, M.D., Retired Pediatrician and Healthcare Executive

When/Where: 9-10 a.m. ET, Tuesday, October 4, 2022 (online)
NFID media contact: Lauren Schmalz, 267-987-1428, Lauren.Schmalz@evokegroup.com
Visit this webpage to register for free.

Censorship and the Right to Information During the Pandemic
2022-09-29 01:00
This webcast will examine global concerns regarding governmental repression of public health information related to the pandemic through use of criminal law and other means. Panelists will discuss the challenge of protecting freedom of expression and access to information during the pandemic, while addressing concerns regarding mis- and disinformation.
When/Where: 10-11 a.m., September 29, 2022 (online)
Fore more information and to register, visit this webpage.

Long COVID update
2022-09-28 01:00
Journalists reporting on “long COVID” need to keep abreast of the latest research. In this media briefing from AAAS, three experts will review the research on symptoms of long COVID, risk factors for developing it and evolving treatment options. They will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the peer-reviewed research and what reporters need to keep in mind as they cover long COVID.
Sponsor: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
When/Where: 2 p.m. ET, Wednesday, September 28, 2022 (online)l
Cost: Free
Visit this webpage to register.
Panelists:

Dr. Bhramar Mukherjee, University of Michigan School of Public Health

Dr. Christian Sandrock, University of California Davis School of Medicine

Dr. Alexander Truong, Emory University

Nurse staffing and patient safety: What the research shows
2022-09-28 01:00
Sept. 28, 1 p.m. ET
Journalist Sarah DiGregorio, author of the forthcoming book, “Taking Care: The Revolutionary Story of Nursing,” and Kerry Dooley Young, AHCJ’s core topic leader on patient safety, will review the findings of major studies on how nurse staffing levels affect quality of care. This webinar will introduce journalists to major papers and reports on this issue and provide an update on efforts at the state and federal level to mandate nurse-patient ratios.
View the webcast
“She Had a Preemie — and Then She Started to Ask Important Questions” was the headline of the 2020 New York Times review of DiGregorio’s first book, “Early: An Intimate History of Premature Birth and What It Teaches Us.” DiGregorio, who has a master’s in journalism from New York University, has been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the Village Voice and in magazines including Saveur and Parade, specializing earlier in food writing. Her second book, a cultural history of nursing called “Taking Care: The Revolutionary Story of Nursing,” is forthcoming in May.

Call for applicants for NIHCM Foundation Health Care Journalism Grant program
2022-09-28 01:00
The NIHCM Foundation is now accepting applications for the 2022-2023 cycle of its Health Care Journalism Grant program.
Grants provide funding for:

Educational opportunities for working journalists.
Reporting projects across a broad range of print, digital, and broadcast media, including national, local, and multilingual outlets serving audiences in the United States.
Support for documentary films’ public engagement campaigns.

For more information and to apply, visit this webpage.
Application deadline: September 28, 2022 @ 5:00 p.m. EST

Telling the Stories of Rural Health in America
2022-09-27 01:00
Reporters often focus stories about rural health on the negatives, such as barriers to access, provider shortages, technological disparities and relatively poor health outcomes.These issues are important to cover, but so are positive stories.
In this webinar, two journalists and one expert will talk about positive rural health storytelling. The panelists will discuss examples of positive storytelling and share valuable resources, ideas and tools related to reporting on rural health. Bring your comments and questions.
Sponsor: National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health (NOSORH)
When/Where: September 27, 2:00 pm EST (online)
Cost: Free
Panelists:

Liz Carey, correspondent, Daily Yonder

Tony Pipa, senior fellow, Center for Sustainable Development – Brookings Institution

Sarah Jane Tribble, senior correspondent, Kaiser Health News

For more information and to register, visit this webpage.

Ask the expert: A White House Q&A on monkeypox
2022-09-22 01:00
Sept. 22, noon ET
Monkeypox is the latest infectious disease outbreak for health journalists to cover and explain to the public.
In early August, President Biden declared monkeypox a public health emergency and named Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, CDC director of HIV/AIDS prevention, as deputy coordinator of the administration’s effort to respond to the outbreak. Daskalakis will take questions for 30 minutes during this webcast, so bring your questions about transmission, risk, health equity and how not to perpetuate stigma in your coverage.
View the webcast
Demetre Daskalakis
Bara Vaida
Demetre Daskalakis is the deputy coordinator of the White House monkeypox response. He previously was director of the division of HIV/AIDS prevention at the CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention. Daskalakis was integral in designing and leading many HIV and STD programs in New York City, including their Ending the Epidemic program, which is credited with decreasing HIV incidence to an historic low.

Lunch and Learn: Finding ... and keeping ... accountability partners
2022-09-15 01:00
When/Where: 1:00 p.m. ET, Sept. 15 (virtual)
View the webcastMeeting ID: 943 4281 6993

Understanding the pharmacy benefit manager 'shell game'
2022-09-14 01:00
Sept. 14, 1 p.m. ET
In this webcast, Ohio-based, award-winning journalist Darrel Rowland will explain the strategies pharmacy benefit managers use to boost profits by increasing what patients pay out of pocket for their medications and limiting the drugs that insurers will cover. He’ll also talk about how pharmacy benefit managers have driven smaller and locally owned pharmacies out of business.
These strategies and others led the Federal Trade Commission to begin an investigation this spring into the practices of the six largest PBMs — CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, OptumRx, Humana Inc.; Prime Therapeutics, and MedImpact Healthcare Systems — and Rowland will help prepare journalists to report on the outcome of that investigation.

View the webcast

Links
A press release about a report from the U.S. Senate Finance Committee on insulin and the role of PBMs and other actors in the drug-supply chain:

https://www.finance.senate.gov/chairmans-news/grassley-wyden-release-insulin-investigation-uncovering-business-practices-between-drug-companies-and-pbms-that-keep-prices-high

The press release includes a link to all of the material the committee reviewed, including the full text of the committee’s investigative report and the committee’s records: HERE.
And here’s a link to the report itself:

https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Grassley-Wyden Insulin Report (FINAL 1).pdf

Here are links from the Federal Trade Commission on its PBM investigation into PBMs:

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/events/2022/06/future-pharmaceuticals-examining-analysis-pharmaceutical-mergers

FTC-DOJ Listening Forum – Health Care- April 14, 2022

The Future of Pharmaceuticals – June 14, 2022

The Future of Pharmaceuticals – June 15, 2022

Merger Guidelines Listening Forum- June 21, 2022

Other sources mentioned included:

Antonio Ciaccia at 3 Axis Advisors, a consulting firm, and at 46Brooklyn Research, drug-price researchers and on Twitter at @A_Ciaccia

Adam J. Fein, PhD, CEO of Drug Channels Institute.

And here’s a link to a report in 2019 from the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission on what’s called the ‘black box’ in the relationship between health insurers and PBMs:

Cracking Open the Black Box of Pharmacy Benefit Managers

Darrel Rowland
Joseph Burns
Darrel Rowland is an independent journalist who has won multiple awards for his work over more than three decades at The Columbus Dispatch in Ohio as a reporter and editor. His work has focused on what he calls accountability stories about pharmacy benefit managers and on a wide variety of other topics. Stories he supervised led to the resignation of an Ohio attorney general, and he has reported on a scandal in which state officials admitted to improperly withholding $40 million in child-support payments to single parents.

Youth and gender identity and transitioning
2022-09-14 01:00
More than 5% of U.S. young adults say their gender is different from the sex assigned to them at birth. At the same time, at least 15 states are currently debating laws that would restrict the types or timing of interventions designed to support young people wishing to change their gender.
SciLine’s next media briefing will cover: what is known about how gender identity develops, including the role of external factors such as family, school, and community environments; what is involved in the process of medical transition, including the use of puberty blockers and hormone treatments; and research findings on how the outward, social transition to a different gender — and the age at which that transition occurs — can impact a person’s mental health. Three experts will brief reporters and then take questions on the record.
Featured panelists
â— Dr. Jenifer McGuire, University of Minnesota
â— Dr. Madeline Deutsch, University of California, San Francisco
â— Dr. Alex Keuroghlian, Harvard Medical School and The Fenway Institute
â— SciLine Director Rick Weiss will moderate the briefing.
When/Where:1:00pm EST, Wednesday, September 14, 2022 (Online)

Find more information and a video about the event, visit this webpage.

Application deadline approaching for IRE freelance fellowships
2022-08-29 01:00
The Investigative Reporters & Editors is acceptinon applications for freelance fellowships awarded to journalists for project proposals of impact, breadth and significance. Priority will be given to proposals that involve whistleblowers, business ethics or privacy issues. The awards support freelance work that will be published in the United States and in outlets that have a primarily American audience.
Fellowship details: Awards range from $1,000 to $2,500, plus a one-year IRE membership.
Application deadline: August 29th, 2022.
For more details and to apply, visit the IRE website.

NAJA National Native Media Conference
2022-08-25 01:00 - 2022-08-27 01:00
The Native American Journalists Association will host the National Native Media Conference Aug. 25-27, 2022 at the Hyatt Regency Phoenix. Special events and programs will also be hosted at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

Investigating alcohol harms in your community
2022-08-18 01:00
New Mexico In Depth recently published an investigative series, “Blind Drunk,” documenting the toll alcohol takes on the state.
The investigation was sweeping. But whatever your beat or focus area, alcohol remains a huge, largely uncovered story with impacts on health, crime, policing, business, culture, or politics.
For reporters as well as others who want to learn more, this briefing by reporter Ted Alcorn will provide an overview of the problem and a basic toolkit to get started with your own investigation into alcohol harms in your community. There will also be time for discussion, questions and answers.
This event is free. Register today and join us on Thursday, August 18 at noon, Mountain Time.
~~~
Ted Alcorn is a writer raised in New Mexico whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and The Washington Post Magazine, among other publications. For New Mexico In Depth he’s investigated how the state’s prisons have ignored an epidemic of hepatitis C, how Albuquerque stood up its branch of non-police emergency response, and how non-profit hospitals shortchange community health. Follow him at @tedalcorn.
New Mexico In Depth is an award-winning, nonprofit media outlet that produces investigative, data-rich stories with an eye on solutions that can be a catalyst for change.

Free SciLine Media Briefing
2022-07-28 01:00
SciLine, a free service for journalists from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, is holding a media briefing about the physical and mental health effects of experiencing extreme heat for different demographics. These include children, older people and outdoor workers. Panelists will discuss trends in deaths, hospitalizations and other outcomes, disparities in outcomes and measures communities can take to keep people safe. Panelists will also take questions from reporters.
When/Where: Thursday, July 28, at 3 p.m. EST (virtual)
Cost: Free
Panelists:

Dr. Perry Sheffield, associate professor of environmental medicine and public health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Dr. Amruta Nori-Sarma, assistant professor of environmental health @ Boston University School of Public Health

Moderator:
SciLine Deputy Director Dr. Meredith Drosback
To register, visit the SciLine website.

Follow The Money: American Rescue Plan
2022-07-26 01:00
This Poynter Institute webinar will review how the 2021 American Rescue Plan and other federal stimulus funds are being used in local communities. Participants will:

Gain practical advice on how to track federal spending in local communities.

Learn best practices for spending federal funds on public health, public safety, infrastructure and the environment.

Hear questions from other journalists who are analyzing federal spending.

Instructors include Kristen Hare, a faculty member at the Poynter Institute; Taylor DesOrmeau, a data reporter for MLive; Shelby Harris, a local reporter for Carolina Public Press; Weihua Li, a data reporter at The Marshall Project; and Anastasia Valeeva, a data journalist and editor at The Marshall Project.
Sponsor: Poynter Institute
When/Where: 1:00 p.m. EST, July 26, 2022 (Online)
Cost: Free
To register and for more details, visit Poynter Institute website.
