Lina Irawan
In the world of journalism, style guides are the invisible scaffolding that keeps the edifice of reporting upright. They dictate the minutiae of language—the serial commas, the capitalization of titles, and the hyphenation of compound adjectives. Yet, few debates in recent memory have ignited as much passion within the newsroom of STAT as the question of whether to write “health care” as one word or two.
While the industry at large has been steadily migrating toward the single-word “healthcare,” the editorial team at STAT, led by Director of Editorial Operations Sarah Mupo, recently found itself at a crossroads. Following a major announcement from the Associated Press (AP)—the gold standard for journalistic style—STAT was forced to decide: Should it modernize or hold the line?
The Catalyst: AP’s Pivotal Shift
The debate reached a fever pitch in April at the ACES: The Society for Editing conference. For years, copy editors across the country had been playfully badgering AP officials during Q&A sessions: “Is this the year for ‘healthcare’?”
For decades, the AP Stylebook had strictly enforced the two-word spelling, even as medical journals, hospital systems, and corporate communications departments began collapsing the term into a single unit. In April, the AP finally relented, announcing a change to the single-word “healthcare,” along with similar transitions for “daycare” and “childcare.”
The news was met with cheers from the conference floor, signaling a long-awaited alignment between common industry usage and professional editorial standards. However, for a publication like STAT, which is defined by its coverage of the medical sector, the decision was not merely a matter of following the herd. It was a matter of identity.
A Chronology of the Debate
When the news broke, Sarah Mupo—who has been with STAT since its founding in 2015—faced the immediate, daunting task of assessing how this change would affect the publication’s voice.
“My immediate response was: What’s STAT going to do?” Mupo recalled in a recent interview on the First Opinion Podcast. “We generally follow AP in most instances, but ‘health care’ is such a big word for STAT. It’s a cornerstone of our coverage.”
Rather than making an executive decision in a vacuum, Mupo and her team chose an unconventional path: they opened the floor to their readership. They issued a formal call for feedback, inviting their audience—which consists of researchers, providers, patients, and industry insiders—to weigh in on the spelling change.
The response was overwhelming. While Mupo had initially anticipated a few dozen replies, over 200 readers submitted their thoughts. The final tally was a reflection of a deeply divided community: 60% in favor of the one-word “healthcare,” and 40% staunchly defending the two-word “health care.”
The Arguments: Philosophy vs. Practicality
The submissions were a microcosm of the tension between linguistic evolution and traditional grammar.
The Case for One Word
Proponents of the single-word “healthcare” argued that the term has evolved into a singular concept. As one reader pointed out, the shift is a natural progression of English, similar to the transformation of “baby-sitter” (two words) to “baby-sitter” (hyphenated) to the modern “babysitter.” When a term becomes so ubiquitous that it functions as a single noun, the space between the words often feels like a vestigial appendage.
The Case for Two Words
Conversely, the 40% who fought for the status quo offered compelling, and often philosophical, arguments. Many emphasized that maintaining two words preserves the weight and distinction of both “health” and “care.”
“People were talking about that with ‘health’ and ‘care’ written separately, that it places the emphasis on both words,” Mupo explained. Furthermore, there is a lack of consistency in the industry’s push for one word. If we use “healthcare,” do we then move to “dentalcare,” “prenatalcare,” or “medicalcare”? The traditional two-word format allows for a parallel structure that feels more logical to many grammarians.
The debate also touched on the sheer exhaustion of the modern editor. One veteran copy editor with 30 years of experience wrote in, pleading, “Please don’t give me another new thing to remember.” For these professionals, the two-word spelling is a comfortable, well-worn habit that doesn’t require the mental overhead of tracking shifting style trends.
Official Response: Why STAT Stayed Put
After synthesizing the reader feedback, the internal polls of reporters, and the weight of their own institutional history, Mupo and the STAT editorial team made their final determination: They would stick with “health care.”
This decision was not made out of a refusal to change, but rather a commitment to institutional consistency. As a publication that has been in operation for over a decade, “health care” was baked into the bedrock of their brand. Their weekly newsletter, Health Care Inc., and their site’s core categorization are all built upon the two-word foundation.
“Our own consistency felt like a compelling argument,” Mupo noted. “We’ve written ‘health care’ as two words this whole time, and I wanted that continuity going forward.”
The Broader Implications for Editorial Operations
The “health care” debate highlights the vital, often unseen, labor of the copy desk. To the layperson, the difference between a space and no space may seem trivial—a pedantic quibble that wastes time and energy. However, as Mupo articulated, these decisions are the final line of defense in maintaining the authority and readability of a publication.
“All of the work of copy editors is very much in the background,” Mupo said. “But even the smallest things can take a reader out of a story if there is a typo or if they notice something that feels off. Those are things that copy editors are spending a lot of time thinking about to give the reader the crispest version of the story that we can.”
The ripple effects of this decision extend beyond mere spelling. It sets a standard for how the publication interacts with its audience. By involving the readers in the process, STAT turned a dry administrative update into a dialogue about the nature of language and the industry they cover.
Conclusion: A Living Language
The decision to retain “health care” as two words is, in a sense, a celebration of the deliberation that goes into quality journalism. While the AP may have moved on to a more streamlined, modern style, STAT has chosen to prioritize the deliberate, rhythmic separation of the two words that define their mission.
For now, the editors at STAT can breathe a sigh of relief. The debate has been settled, the style guide has been updated, and the focus can return to what matters most: the substance of the reporting. Yet, the story of this minor orthographic crusade serves as a reminder that even in an age of AI-generated content and rapid-fire news, there is still immense value in pausing to consider how we name the world around us.
As Torie Bosch, editor of First Opinion, concluded during the podcast, the goal of such rigor is to ensure that when the words finally reach the reader, they carry the full weight and clarity of the truth—regardless of whether there is a space in the middle.
Lina Hope
