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Mobile health skepticism, fuzzy health reform math, and Texas amputations: The ReportingonHealth Daily Briefing

Mobile health skepticism, fuzzy health reform math, and Texas amputations: The ReportingonHealth Daily Briefing

Picture of Barbara Feder Ostrov

Here's what we're reading today:

Outliers: A cautionary tale for health journalists: GoozNews' Merrill Goozner details how an error of adjustment in the Dartmouth Atlas skewed media coverage of supposedly sky-high leg amputation rates in McAllen, Texas.

Mobile Health: NetworkWorld's Paul McNamara takes issue with a new survey showing that 40 percent of us would pay for health care apps or services on our mobile devices.

C-sections: Nathanael Johnson details how he reported his California Watch investigation of c-section rates at California hospitals. (For related how-to's, read Antidote blogger William Heisel's two-part Q&A with Johnson on his investigation of maternal death rates).  

Cholesterol: Why are so many Americans on statins? A flawed classification system for measuring cholesterol-related disease risk may offer some clues, according to Pharmalot's Ed Silverman.

Health Reform: As a federal judge prepares to hear arguments that new federal health reforms are unconstitutional tomorrow, some recent White House stats on the cost savings of health reform may involve fuzzy math.

Announcements

The Center for Health Journalism’s 2023 National Fellowship will provide $2,000 to $10,000 reporting grants, five months of mentoring from a veteran journalist, and a week of intensive training at USC Annenberg in Los Angeles from July 16-20. Click here for more information and the application form, due May 5.

The Center for Health Journalism’s 2023 Symposium on Domestic Violence provides reporters with a roadmap for covering this public health epidemic with nuance and sensitivity. The next session will be offered virtually on Friday, March 31. Journalists attending the symposium will be eligible to apply for a reporting grant of $2,000 to $10,000 from our Domestic Violence Impact Reporting Fund. Find more info here!

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