2008 Editorial Calendar

January/February: Consumer-Driven Healthcare

This issue will define the concept and look into the practical implications for medical practices, including affects on reimbursement, legal issues, and the doctor-patient relationship. The issue will take into account differing affects according to practice size and specialty.

March/April: Reducing Practice Risk

How can practices prevent errors and reduce risk of malpractice litigation? This issue will give physicians a step-by-step guide to analyzing their practice’s risk profile so that they can reduce medication errors, keep more accurate and complete medical records, communicate risk effectively to patients, and adapt their protocols to the latest technology.

May/June: Small Practice Survival Guide

This issue will help guide the smaller practice through the practice management maze by presenting practical solutions to common challenges, including reimbursement rates, staffing and recruiting, insurance and financial planning, and information technology.

July/August: Technology for Patient and Practice

Healthcare information technology (IT) solutions offer not only business applications but solutions to help enhance patient care, both at the point of care delivery and beyond. But can applications like web-based patient portals, electronic medical records, telemedicine, clinical decision support and mobile systems deliver on their big promises? Can they truly enhance the patient experience and make the practice run more smoothly? This issue will explore these questions.

September/October: Raising Your Scores: Patient Outcomes and Patient Satisfaction

An increasing number of insurance companies and other organizations are tracking practice performance, including patient outcomes and patient satisfaction levels. This issue will look at how practices can track and improve outcomes and patient satisfaction with effective survey tools, innovative information systems, comprehensive marketing, and good old-fashioned customer service.

November/December: Ethics and the State of the Medical Profession

Has the medical profession really changed? Are there basic principles that all physicians should hold in common? This issue will explore these questions as well as the practical side of ethics in medicine, including dealing with gray areas, handling possible violations, and how ethical issues affect the doctor-patient relationship.