Opinion: Healthcare or health care? Help STAT decide

OpinionFirst Opinion Healthcare or health care? Help STAT decide Should we change our style guide to make it one word, or stick with two? Manage alerts for this article Email this article Share this article By Sarah MupoApril 28, 2026 Director of Editorial Operations Sarah Mupo[email protected] The Associated Press Stylebook, the foundational journalism guide for how newsrooms report and write their stories, made waves last week when it decreed that “health care” should now be written as one word, not two. The change, announced at the annual ACES: The Society for Editing’s conference, was prompted by shifting usage and years of appeals to make the switch. STAT closely follows AP style and has used “health care” since its founding in 2015. Now, we have to decide whether to adopt this new guidance, but our newsroom is divided. Advertisement We are interested in hearing from our readers, particularly those in the health care industry, on this polarizing question: Is it “healthcare” or “health care”? Please share your thoughts in the form below, and they may appear in a future roundup. Is it healthcare or health care? The AP Stylebook recently made a significant decision in changing its guidance to writing healthcare as one word, not two. Do you think the word should be written as healthcare or health care? *Required Submit a correction requestReprints Sarah Mupo Director of Editorial Operations Newsletter Understand how science, health policy, and medicine shape the world every day Recommended First Opinion April 28, 2026 FDA commissioner: ‘Smarter,’ real-time clinical trials could transform drug development First Opinion April 28, 2026 It’s time to seize the rare bipartisan opening to address microplastics Advertisement First Opinion April 28, 2026 Why do discussions about ‘brain health’ ignore mental illness? First Opinion April 27, 2026 I’m a fourth-year med student, but I only learned one historical example of medical racism First Opinion April 27, 2026 Patients seeking mental health treatment are not commodities Subscriber Picks