Ushering in a New Year
I say goodbye to 2004 with mixed emotions. I am sad to see all the excitement of starting this new magazine fade away to yesteryear, but I won’t miss the feeling of angst from starting something new. I am thrilled to say the hard work seems to be paying off. Each month, we have had more subscription requests, input and comments than the month before.
In my first publisher’s letter I wrote, “‘Providing Insight, Understanding and Community’ is our tagline but, more important, it’s why we get up every morning!” In our little corner of this huge community, I am confident we have stayed true to this mission in our first year, and we are ready to continue in 2005.
When I look back at 2004, I think the real highlights for The Journal of Healthcare Contracting truly centered on the people of our marketplace.
I’ll always be grateful to John Bardis and Rand Ballard for agreeing to be interviewed in the first issue; their insight set a great tone for the year. Also, the “15 People to Watch” was important for the healthcare-contracting arena. I believe this could become a venue where our market could recognize our thought leaders for years to come. And what a thrill having George Halvorson, the chairman and CEO of Kaiser Permanente, participate in our inaugural year and give us his take on GPOs, patient safety and the need for healthcare reform.
Looking to 2005, there are so many topics, events and people to cover. It, too, should prove to be a great year. Keep an eye out for a new section in The Journal of Healthcare Contracting in 2005 that will explore core issues and challenges to our national health system, IDNs and healthcare contracting. The six topics in 2005 are patient safety; lifestyle disease prevention; technology advancing healthcare; the healthcare worker shortage; reprocessing and physician preference contracting.
I am confident 2005 will be a great year of gatherings as well. We look forward to bringing you coverage and analysis of the Federation of American Hospitals, HIDA meetings, the HIGPA EXPO, the HIGPA National Pharmacy Forum and GPO meetings.
The one huge commonality between 2004 and 2005 will be you, the readers of this magazine. Thank you so much for all your ideas, insight and well wishes during the beginning of this venture. I hope 2004 was all you had hoped for, and 2005 is even better.
