Globe reporter’s health care coverage honored
Boston Globe health reporter Kay Lazar placed first in the beat reporting category of the Association of Health Care Journalists’ annual contest, the organization announced yesterday.
Her stories, among the more than 300 entries received in the 2010 Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism, were lauded by the judges for “the range and depth of her health policy coverage, and its measurable impact,’’ the group said.
In particular, judges noted an article that found more nursing home patients received antipsychotic medications not recommended or intended for their medical condition in Massachusetts than in most other states, and another that revealed thousands were gaming the state’s 2006 health insurance law by temporarily buying coverage when they needed expensive medical procedures.
Her reporting elicited responses from state lawmakers and led to a regulatory review and new training of nursing home workers, the judges noted.
Lazar has been at the Globe for seven years, and has covered health insurance and aging for the past three years.
“It gives you a chance to write about something that affects so many people and gives you an opportunity to explain complex issues that are very important,’’ Lazar said of her beat.
She said reporting on the Massachusetts health insurance law, which was a model for the national bill that President Obama signed into law last March, gave her valuable perspective.
“We were sort of a microcosm for the national reform and we had to explain what was working and not working here,’’ she said.
Other Boston winners included David Baron, Patrick Cox, and Sheri Fink of WGBH, who won first place in the radio category for reporting on how four countries managed limited health care resources.
Neal Riley can be reached at nriley@globe.com. 
