Insights

ER visits are growing and the number of emergency departments is shrinking. Does that mean more people will be denied urgent care and suffer or die as a result? The effects might be smaller than you think, and a good reminder to question our assumptions as reporters.

Talk of the hygiene hypothesis, beneficial bacteria, and the microbiome is becoming increasingly common. But the science of how these concepts relate to allergies and other conditions is still very much in progress. And that makes reporting on these topics tricky.

The Affordable Care Act has spurred new conversations about how to best deliver mental health benefits. Ideas range from incorporating more mental health services into primary care visits to the use of avatar systems to help schizophrenics control hallucinations.

This week's listings include reporting positions with New York Public Radio's WNYC Health Unit and Bloomberg's Health team in New York, plus check out the fellowship opportunities in our weekly roundup.

What happens when a health reporter personally tries out some of the health trends she routinely covers? Jondi Gumz committed herself to taking more steps and eating healthier foods than ever before. Not that it always came easy, especially on deadline days.

Jenna Russell's recent three-part series for The Boston Globe presents a remarkably intimate, revealing portrait of a man and his family as they struggle to cope with his mental illness. Her reporting holds a number of lessons for journalists taking on projects that deal with mental health.

As The Boston Globe readied a new three-part series for publication, a regional hospital chain tried suing a newspaper and a patient after it was prevented from disclosing a mentally ill patient's records. The suit was part of a series of serious miscalculations on the hospital's part.

Baltimore researchers spent three decades tracking nearly 800 kids from poor and middle-class backgrounds. They found little social mobility, with poor kids tending to become poor adults. The findings have sobering implications for health, which is tightly linked to socioeconomic status.

In addition to the big insurers, California's state health exchange includes a handful of smaller, region-specific plans. While some have found more early success than others, collectively these plans offer consumers choice and, in some cases, more affordable options.

Those interested in current health issues in California, including the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, should check out Latino USA's fellowship program requirements and apply. The Deseret News in Salt Lake City and Cincinnati.com are also hiring.