Health care is a massive beat, so we've broken it down to start with a basic lesson on covering hospitals. This guide is by Karl Stark, health & science editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer.
It’s hard to believe we’re only a week away from the start of Memorial Day weekend. As summer activities kick into gear, so do the businesses that serve them, so no matter your beat you’ve got a bonanza of holiday-related story ideas from which to choose. Traditionally, it’s a time for business writers to look [...]
It’s hard to overlook the buzz created by this week’s revelation by actor and activist Angelina Jolie that she had preemptive surgery to remove both breasts, because she carries a gene that makes cancer likely. News of Jolie’s decision, which she wrote about in a first-person New York Times essay on Tuesday, has generated a great [...]
Catchy story ideas are piling up so rapidly this week I’m afraid some good news pegs will get lost on the cutting-room floor, so without further ado here’s a new addition of Quicktips: Baring biceps: The American Society of Plastic Surgeons is just out with its annual report on in-demand cosmetic procedures. The 2012 Plastic [...]
Wednesday’s report on payday loans by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a good prompt for a look at a variety of lending products that serve the subprime market, those consumers with poor credit. Another news peg: California lawmakers just last week defeated proposed reining-in of payday loans, which the American Banker online publication says is [...]
With 2014 less than nine months away, not to mention the nation’s expanding medical problems driven by demographics and lifestyle, the health care beat will always be fertile territory for the business journalist. In addition to the story ideas related to the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care act outlined in this recent blog [...]
How is biomedical research driving jobs, business start-ups and technology in your market? News this week of President Obama’s proposed $100 million funding for a ‘brain-mapping initiative“ might prompt you to take a look at how biomedical research may be driving jobs, business start-ups and technology in your market. Here’s a link to the White House [...]
You may already have seen the intriguing NPR report on Social Security disability claims, “Unfit for Work: The startling rise of disability claims in America.” The report details the surge in claims to the Social Security disability program over the past several decades, attributing it to an aging workforce that, in many cases, is displaced [...]
Not many hospitals report cancer survival rate data, says Robin Respaut of Reuters. There are no reporting regulations for those who do. When she and reporter Sharon Begley looked at the numbers, data reported by the Cancer Treatment Centers of America stood out. They write: “What sets CTCA apart is that rejecting certain patients and, [...]
We seem to be whisking through 2013 at a fast clip, and among other things that brings us closer to 2014 and near-full implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA), otherwise known as Obamacare. If you haven’t tackled a health-insurance or health care story in a while, some recent headlines [...]
