Dick Hale
Editor/Publisher
Readers will notice several changes in the magazine this month. Perhaps the most significant change is the dropping of the Clinical Excellence section. Over the past 40 months, Dental Economics has presented more than 150 clinically-related "how-to" articles edited by Dr. Hugh Doherty. The series was well received and provided dentists with practical clinical information. The decision to drop the Clinical Excellence section was made following our annual Editorial Board meeting. The six dentists on the Editorial Board agreed that Clinical Excellence served an important need but, that, with the increasing pressures on the profitability of dental practices, that more attention to management issues is extremely important at this time.
The success of Clinical Excellence spawns new, monthly departments. Dr. Doherty will continue as a Contributing Editor to the magazine. He will author a monthly column, "Money Matters," which will focus on personal financial strategies for dentists.
Clinical Excellence features that generated tremendous response from readers were the "Pearls" authored by Dr. Joe Blaes of St. Louis. Those articles featured new products and services that Dr. Blaes found to improve productivity in his dental practice. "Pearls for Your Practice" will be a monthly feature, with three or four "pearls" presented each month.
Dr. Duane Schmidt of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, returns as a regular contributor. Dr. Schmidt is a pioneer in the arena of the electronic dental office. His new monthly column, "User Friendly," will focus on how dentists can move their offices forward by taking advantage of emerging software and technology.
There is a new name on the byline for Capitol Gram this month. For 10 years, D`Vera Cohn has authored this column for us as a Washington correspondent tuned in to the legislative concerns of dentists. Her new assignment has moved her away from the healthcare field, and she turned Capitol Gram`s reins over to Judy Hasson. Our new Washington correspondent covers the health beat for USA Today and we are confident that she will continue the excellent coverage our readers are accustomed to in this timely column.
We will continue our other popular departments: Insurance by Carol Tekavek, CDA, RDH; Rx for Success by Bob Levoy; Practice Productivity by Dr. Roger Levin; Office of the Month by Associate Editor Ron Combs; and Tax Questions and Answers by Dr. Charles Blair and John McGill, JD. Of course you, the readers, make our other departments, Viewpoint and Letters, the best-read forum for dentistry. No other dental publication has such an experienced team of regular contributors. These experts complement an experienced editorial staff to provide regular, relevant reading for the nation`s busy dentists.
