Covering the Quality of Health Care: A Resource Guide for Journalists

In 1997, about a half-dozen journalists gathered in Chicago one September weekend to form the Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ). The founders shared a vision that such a group could raise the quality, accuracy and RELATED ARTICLE
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– Melinsa Vossvisibility of health care reporting by helping one another. Creating a resource guide—the Association’s first major publication—was a natural way to help turn that vision into reality.

Our 220-page guide is intended to put journalists in touch with the experts they need to quote, the background materials that will give their stories perspective, and online links to turn an amorphous subject into a clear picture for citizens, consumers and policymakers. Chapters are included on medical errors and malpractice, the price of quality, comparing doctors and hospitals, mental health, long-term care, disparities in health care, and complementary and alternative medicine. A 40-page resource list offers names, phone numbers, Web sites, and e-mail addresses.

Designed to help journalists of all stripes—broadcast, online and print—the guide is intended to cover this critical issue in an informed, systematic way. It provides crucial context and vital data that will make it easy for journalists to use this book as a quick reference when doing breaking news stories or as a thoughtful, provocative starting point when working on long-range stories.

To order a copy, go to https:// pygmy.jaws.umn.edu/%7Eahcj/ resource_guide.cgi.