Trudy Lieberman, the health policy editor of Consumer Reports, wrote "Covering Managed Care: A Resource Guide for Reporters and Editors", which appeared in the March/April 1999 issue of the Columbia Journalism Review, New York.

Lieberman is also a contributing editor of the Columbia Journalism Review, which received the grant for the project, and is on the board of directors of the National Committee for Quality Assurance and the Medicare Rights Center.

Key Results

• The guide "aims to help journalists find out who the key sources are and to cover the new structure in health care, including the business of managed care, the politics it is enmeshed in, and its effects on the health of so many Americans."
  
  The guide provides contact information and brief descriptions of 121 sources of information for journalists. The sources are grouped in the following categories:
  • Accrediting Organizations.
  • Advocacy and Consumer Organizations.
  • Capitol Hill Sources.
  • Clinton Administration Contacts.
  • Education and Research Organizations.
  • Employee Benefits Consultants.
  • Employer Coalitions and Purchasing Groups.
  • Financial Analysts.
  • Key Researchers who Study Managed Care and Consumer Behavior.
  • Key Researchers who Study Health Services, Quality and Delivery.
  • Labor Unions.
  • Medicaid and Managed Care.
  • Medicare and Managed Care.
  • Mental Health and Managed Care.
  • Organizations that Disseminate Health Plan Data.
  • Organizations that Evaluate HMO Financial Stability.
  • Trade and Professional Associations.
  
  The guide also offers a glossary of managed care terms and "Selected Readings."

Funding

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) supported the project with a grant of $20,000 between February and March 1999.