Helpful Links

Explore a collection of hand-selected, valuable links for health care journalists.


Helpful Links

    • Medical Studies

    The Disability Language Style Guide is an extremely helpful reference for writing about any kind of disability. This paper in…

    • Aging

    Able Data

    Able Data provides objective information about assistive technology products and rehabilitation equipment. Their database includes 40,000 assistive technology products classified…

    • Aging

    Abuse/mistreatment/exploitation

    Expert panel tackles elder abuse at workshop on aging: Liz Seegert writes about a panel on elder abuse at AHCJ’s…

    • Health Policy

    ACA litigation

    Health reporters spend a lot of time tracking ACA litigation (especially but not exclusively the Texas lawsuit that aims to…

    • Insurance

    Academic centers

    The Becker Friedman Institute for Economics publishes research and analysis from researchers at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of…

    • Health IT

    Academic centers

    Artificial Intelligence in Medicine division at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center – group that explores how AI can be applied to help…

    • Health Policy

    Academic centers

    Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan says poverty and health are closely intertwined because families and individuals with low-incomes…

    • Health Equity

    Academic Research Centers

    Institute for the History of Psychiatry at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University Medical historian Megan Wolff runs the…

    • Infectious Diseases

    Academic research centers

    Center of Excellence in Influenza Research and Surveillance Founded at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. The World…

    • Aging

    Adult Day Care Center Use

    Differences in Adult Day Services Center Participant Characteristics by Center Ownership: United States, 2012 The National Center for Health Statistics…

    • Aging

    Advance directives

    Some websites offer introductions to and advance directives. General information about advance directives can be found at healthfinder.gov. American Bar…

    • Aging

    Advance directives

    Some websites offer introductions to and advance directives. POLSTs are primarily for those with serious life-threatening illnesses or advanced life-limiting…

    • Infectious Diseases

    Advocacy and nonprofit groups

    Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics Located on the campus of Tufts University Medical School, this international group supports…

    • Health Equity

    Advocacy and Opinion

    Zero to Three: A Washington-based advocacy group, Zero to Three focuses on policies affecting infants and very young children. The…

    • Insurance

    Advocacy groups

    California Health Advocates provides information for journalists and consumers on Medicare, Medicare supplemental coverage and long-term-care insurance. While the program…

    • Health IT

    Advocacy groups

    Center for Medical Interoperability – working to advance data sharing in medicine, founded by health systems EHR Association (EHRA) –…

    • Firearm Violence

    Advocacy Organizations

    Brady Center to Prevent Gun ViolenceThis group is a nonprofit focused on preventing firearm violence. Among their initiatives are efforts…

    • Health Equity

    Affordable Care Act

    IOM Summary: Achieving Health Equity via the Affordable Care Act This December 2015 report follows an Institute of Medicine workshop…

    • International

    African Resources

    These resources can enable journalists to find information. To contribute additional sources or suggest a relevant health topic, send a…

    • Aging

    Ageism

    Websites OldSchool.info –contains all of the resources that follow, and is the one-stop go-to for all things ageism-related HelpAge International…

    • Aging

    Agencies on Aging

    National Survey of Area Agencies on Aging 2020 Report and Toolkit n4a worked with Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University…

    • Health Equity

    Aging

    The Center for Brain Health Equity created by UsAgainstAlzheimer’s with a $1.5 million cooperative agreement with the CDC Healthy Brain…

    • Aging

    Aging in place

    All Together Now: Integrating Health and Community Supports for Older Adults Brief from American Institutes for Research’s Center on Aging. First in…

    • Aging

    Alzheimer’s disease & dementia

    Today’s Research on Aging: The Demography of Dementia and Dementia Caregiving — A report from the Population Reference Bureau summarizes…

    • Aging

    Anti-aging medicine

    Adverse Events Associated with Testosterone Administration Latest research on Resveratrol National Institute on Aging began a national trial of testosterone…

    • Aging

    Antibiotics

    Antibiotic Stewardship in Long Term Care Facilities — from Pew Trusts Antibiotic Resistance project — important and timely backfround information…

    • Medical Studies

    Articles about medical studies

    While age and race/ethnicity are nearly always reported in the baseline characteristics of Table 1 in a medical study, socioeconomic…

    • International

    Asian Resources

    These resources can enable journalists to find information. To contribute additional sources or suggest a relevant health topic, send a…

    • Aging

    Assisted living

    National Center for Assisted Living Facts & Figures: A page full of vetted sources for information about assisted living, including…

    • COVID-19

    Background

    The Associated Press addresses style questions. Columbia Journalism Review on “How to name a coronavirus” CJR report on “The new…

    • Health Equity

    Behavior and Individual Risk Taking

    The National Institute on Drug Abuse funded the RAND Opioid Policy Tools and Information Center (OPTIC) to develop reliable data,…

    • Aging

    Biology and genetics

    Here are a couple of presentations from AHCJ annual conferences. George M. Martin (M.D., professor emeritus, Department of Pathology, University…

    • Infectious Diseases

    Books

    Big Chicken: The Incredible Story of How Antibiotics Created Modern Agriculture and Changed the Way the World Eats Journalist and…

    • Aging

    Brain health

    Brain Health Data: The National Alzheimer’s Disease Index is a public health tool that aggregates Medicare data and enables visualization…

    • Health IT

    Brain-computer interface

    BrainGate – Collaborative of researchers from Brown, Emory, Massachusetts General Hospital, Stanford, UC Davis, and the Department of Veterans Affairs…

    • Medical Studies

    Burden of disease

    To better understand disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), see this 2013 paper on one approach to it and this deep dive…

    • Health Policy

    Calculators

    ProPublica has launched a web app that allows consumers – and journalists – to look up their current plan to…

    • Aging

    Cancer

    Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine compared the health care experience for cancer patients older than…

    • Aging

    Cardiovascular disease

    AHA Statistical Update Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics 2013 Update; A Report From the American Heart Association CDC Interative Atlas…

    • Aging

    Caregiving

    American Association of Caregiving Youth More than a million children under 18 care for a parent, grandparent or other relative with…

    • Patient Safety

    Case studies

    Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality: Real-life examples of safety scenarios are described in Impact Case Studies. An online web…

    • Aging

    Centenarians

    New England Centenarian Study, billed as the longest and largest study of people over age 100, began in 1995 as…

    • Health Policy

    Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight

    The Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) oversees the implementation of various ACA provisions related to private health insurance,…

    • Mental Health

    Child and adolescent mental health

    American Psychological Association, which has published special guidance on youth mental health during Covid-19. Black School Psychologists and the Association…

    • Health Equity

    Childhood Environment

    Lead in U.S. drinking water: SciLine has a fact sheet, with sources, that outlines the background of lead in tap…

    • Aging

    Chronic pain/disease

    Chronic Disease Indicators for older adults: The chronic disease indicators (CDI) are uniformly defined state and selected metropolitan-level data for…

    • Aging

    Clinical Diagnosis of Osteoporosis

    This is a position paper from the National Bone Health Alliance Working Group, a public-private partnership of 56 partners from…

    • Medical Studies

    Clinical guidelines

    International Classification of Diseases: The CDC has excellent pages that describe and explain the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical…

    • Medical Studies

    Clinical trials

    Plenty of sites provide overviews of the phases of clinical trials, but this one at the American Cancer Society is…

    • COVID-19

    Clinical Trials

    More than two dozen vaccines are under development, and dozens of trials are underway to investigate whether any experimental or…

    • Aging

    CMS Fast Facts

    CMS has released a new quick-reference statistical summary on annual CMS program and financial data. The November fact sheet includes…

    • Health Policy

    Co-ops

    For background on what a co-op is, and some examples of successful ones that predate the Affordable Care Act, see…

    • Aging

    Cognitive aging

    Cognitive Aging: Progress in Understanding and Opportunities for Action: Forgetfulness at older ages is often equated with a decline in…

    • Aging

    Communicating with older adults

    California Assisted Living Association Age-Friendly Language Guide — What we say and how we say it can either be age-friendly…

    • Health Policy

    Community health centers

    National Association of Community Health CentersCommunity health centers are expanding, because of the health reform law and funding made available…

    • Health Equity

    Community Health Status Indicators (CHSI)

    The Neighborhood Atlas is a free mapping tool of the Centers for Health Disparities Research, an institution that’s part of…

    • Health Policy

    Community Health Status Indicators (CHSI)

    This website produces public health profiles for all 3,143 counties in the United States. Each profile includes key indicators of…

    • Medical Studies

    Comparative effectiveness research

    Toolkit: Right Care, Right Patient, Right Time: Comparative Effectiveness Research in the U.S.: In 2019, the Alliance for Health Policy coordinated…

    • Insurance

    Consultants

    Many consultants specializing in human resources and health care strategies have experts and reports on health policy and health insurance.…

    • Health Policy

    Consultants and Legal Groups

    Many HR consultancies, investment groups, and law firms have health policy resources (reports, webcasts, etc.) that are available to reporters,…

    • Health IT

    Consulting firms

    Frost & Sullivan – Consulting and research group that releases reports on HIT. The Advisory Board Company: Publishes research and…

    • Insurance

    Consumer associations

    Integrative Health Policy Institute seeks to eliminate barriers to health by advocating for a health system that promotes and supports…

    • Insurance

    Consumer resources

    State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIPs) provide local and objective insurance counseling and assistance to Medicare-eligible individuals, their families, and…

    • Infectious Diseases

    Coronavirus

    The 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV)Recent articles in JAMA reviewed new technologies for rapid vaccine development for emerging viral diseases, effectiveness…

    • Insurance

    Costs and pricing

    AboutHealthTransparency.org is a nonprofit website that publishes resources and news about health care price transparency. In addition to tracking health…

    • Aging

    COVID-19

    The New York Times COVID-19 Long Term Care Facility Tracker: The New York Times has been putting together its own database of…

    • Aging

    Creativity

    National Center for Creative Aging EngAGE   (provides arts programs onsite in senior housing communities in Los Angeles area) Elders Share…

    • Insurance

    Data aggregators

    The Milken Institute COVID-19 vaccine and treatment tracker is compiled from publicly available sources and will grow to include FDA-approved…

    • Aging

    Demographics

    Aging and Health Datagraphic: from Health Affairs, a visual look at how well older adults achieve goals like aging in…

    • COVID-19

    Dentistry

    COVID-19 and Dentistry: Challenges and Opportunities for Providing Safe Care: The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) effectively shut down…

    • Aging

    Diabetes

    NCHS Data Brief: Diabetes: Nearly 10 percent of Americans and 21 percent of adults 65 and over have diabetes. The National…

    • Patient Safety

    Diagnostic errors

    Diagnostic errors: A primer from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Patient safety and quality improvement from the Agency…

    • Aging

    Direct care workers

    PHI reports on home care: Annual data on the direct care workforce, including this brief on home care workers and…

    • Aging

    Disabilities

    Vision Problems in the U.S. from Prevent Blindness: Tracks the prevalence of adult vision impairment and age-related eye disease in…

    • Aging

    Disaster planning

    Emergency Preparedness for Elderly People – from the National Caregivers Library — a list of supplies to have on hand…

    • Medical Studies

    Disease elimination and eradication

    The Principles of Disease Elimination and Eradication from the CDC. The principles of disease elimination and eradication by Walter R.…

    • Aging

    Disparities

    The National Caucus & Center on Black Aging, Inc. — one of the country’s oldest organizations dedicated to aging issues…

    • Medical Studies

    Dose response

    This ToxTutor link from the NIH describes routes of exposure in greater detail, particularly as it relates to types of…

    • Aging

    Drugs and devices

    Rx Price Watch report on specialty prescription drugs from AARP,  which found that the average annual price for a single…

    • Medical Studies

    Drugs/pharmaceuticals

    Ten Common Questions (and Their Answers) About Off-label Drug Use covers some of the most common questions, concerns and misunderstandings…

    • Health Equity

    Economy & taxes

    The intersection of tax policy and health equity This document reflects the content of a Dec. 7, 2017, workshop at…

    • Health Equity

    Education & health

    Why Education Matters to Health: Exploring the Causes Virginia Commonwealth University Center on Society and Health (2014) The links between…

    • Aging

    Elder abuse

    National Adult Maltreatment report 2016 – From the Administration for Community Living, the first report of a series based on data…

    • COVID-19

    Emergency Health Preparedness

    Resolve to Save Lives, a nonprofit led by Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,…

    • Insurance

    Employee survey shows that as deductibles and out-of-pocket costs rise, perceived value of benefits falls

    A report from benefits consulting firm Mercer shows that health insurance benefits are an important element of employers’ efforts to…

    • Insurance

    Employer Coalitions

    The Private Exchange Evaluation Collaborative The Private Exchange Evaluation Collaborative (PEEC) was formed in the fall of 2013 to provide…

    • Aging

    End-of-life care

    End-of-life discussions: Perspective from a nurse who is a patient: Amy Berman – a nurse, a nationally recognized expert in care…

    • Health Equity

    Environmental hazards and disparities

    ValueofLeadPrevention.org enables policymakers, community leaders and residents to calculate the cost of childhood lead exposure in their state and the…

    • Medical Studies

    Epidemiology

    This slideshare, “Basic concepts and principles of epidemiology” by Dr. Dharmendra Gahwai, is a lengthy but thorough and fairly accessible…

    • Medical Studies

    Equipoise

    Benjamin Freedman, Ph.D., wrote the first major paper on clinical equipoise in medical research in 1987 in the New England Journal of…

    • Infectious Diseases

    Ethics and journalism

    Guidance on the release of information concerning deaths, epidemics or emerging diseases Recommendations developed by public health officials, health care…

    • Aging

    Ethnic Aging

    Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) — this list from the National Institute of Aging provides information on various…

    • International

    European Resources

    These resources can enable journalists to find information. To contribute additional sources or suggest a relevant health topic, send a…

    • Aging

    Evidence-based policy

    Addressing the Health Needs of an Aging America: New Opportunities for Evidence-Based Policy Solutions. A comprehensive policy brief from The…

    • Aging

    Exercise

    Exercise is vitally important for older adults.  Learn about the National Institute on Aging’s Go4Life exercise initiative for older adults.…

    • Health Equity

    Experts

    Darrell Gaskin, Ph.D. Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health…

    • Infectious Diseases

    Experts

    John Aitchison, Ph.D. President, Center for Infectious Disease Research He can be reached through his media contact: May Wildman at…

    • COVID-19

    Fact Checking

    Excellent Q & A on COVID-19, published on March 17 by the Poynter Institute, with fact-check data and information. It…

    • Medical Studies

    FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization

    To better understand all the ways the FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization mechanism works and what is and is not allowed…

    • Insurance

    Federal agencies

    Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) advises the federal Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services on…

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