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Farewell … and Welcome
EDITORIAL
BRUCE J. HILLMAN, MD
Farewell . . . and Welcome Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night till it be morrow. —William Shakespeare
It’s a rare occasion that an epigram stolen from Shakespeare heads this column. Usually, I’m just not that erudite. The quotation is most appropriate, however, given the changes readers will see in this year’s journal. Beginning with this issue, JACR is saying vale (“farewell,” for those who don’t have even my execrable Latin) to some long-term regular columnists and welcoming some new ones. To start, I have to say that this was not my idea. Readership surveys undertaken by our publisher Elsevier have consistently shown that each of the columns JACR publishes has a dedicated readership. Personally, I have loved reading the departing columnists from their very first contributions. Best of all, the departing columnists have been unerringly timely— often early. This is a wonderful quality for a journal contributor. It’s important to be good, but timely and good? I get all choked up just thinking about it. Despite my whining, however, each said it was time. They had variously run out of ideas or found new and demanding responsibilities or just plain wanted a rest from my incessant demands. No amount of my arguing changed their minds. By now, you already have read in the November issue Rich Duzsak’s final “The Bottom Line.” Rich has been sending me a column every other month beginning with the first issue of the journal in January
2004. Volume 1, number 1, page 66: you can look it up. For me, it’s like losing a limb. Rich’s columns are like chewable vitamins. His light touch in dealing with coding and payment issues has entertained readers on a subject that is mostly not very entertaining but critically important to radiology practices. Farewell, Rich. Enjoy a well-earned rest. However, this is not to say that the topics of billing and reimbursement will disappear from the journal’s pages. These issues are too important to too many of my readers. Zeke Silva is stepping into the breach. Zeke is an expert in this area, who, like Rich, participates on ACR committees relevant to his writing responsibilities for JACR. I believe we can expect great things from Zeke, whose first column appears in this issue. Welcome, Zeke. You have big shoes to fill. Another popular column that is ending is “Utilization Rounds of the Massachusetts General Hospital.” The feature was conceived and pitched to me by current ACR Board of Chancellors Chair Jim Thrall several years ago, and Susanna Lee of his department at the Massachusetts General Hospital has ably led this collaborative effort of the Massachusetts faculty. As relayed to me by readers, the columns have served two important purposes: keeping radiologists up-todate on the most current thinking about how to address key imaging applications and serving as “handouts” to clinicians interested in the most appropriate way to manage the imaging of their patients. The last
installment, on cerebral aneurysms, appears in this issue. Farewell, Susanna. I’ll miss reading your contributions. Fortunately, Jim had a new idea for me a couple years ago that I have held in abeyance against just such a day as this. Titled “My Best Idea/My Worst Idea,” this new bimonthly column will be edited by Laurie Fajardo, chair of the Department of Radiology at the University of Iowa. The column is intended to educate and entertain readers by having current and former heads of community and academic departments detail in their own words which memorable ideas worked out well for them and which did not. Laurie wrote the first column herself, and it appears in this issue of the journal. I recommend it highly. Welcome, Laurie. I’m expecting great things. Finally, yet another new column begins its bimonthly run next month, in the February issue. JACR frequently publishes original articles on qualityrelated topics. The commencement of a regular column by Paul Nagy of the University of Maryland institutionalizes the already great and still growing importance to the continued health of our specialty of improving quality and documenting that we’ve done so. The column will be called “Quality Matters.” Welcome, Paul. I look forward to seeing your efforts. These partings are sweet sorrow. But they wouldn’t be sweet at all if there weren’t so much new to look forward to.
Bruce J. Hillman, MD, UVA-Radiology Research, Box 801339, Charlottesville VA 22908; e-mail: [email protected].
© 2010 American College of Radiology 0091-2182/10/$36.00 ● DOI 10.1016/j.jacr.2009.09.028
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BRUCE J. HILLMAN, MD
Farewell . . . and Welcome Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night till it be morrow. —William Shakespeare
It’s a rare occasion that an epigram stolen from Shakespeare heads this column. Usually, I’m just not that erudite. The quotation is most appropriate, however, given the changes readers will see in this year’s journal. Beginning with this issue, JACR is saying vale (“farewell,” for those who don’t have even my execrable Latin) to some long-term regular columnists and welcoming some new ones. To start, I have to say that this was not my idea. Readership surveys undertaken by our publisher Elsevier have consistently shown that each of the columns JACR publishes has a dedicated readership. Personally, I have loved reading the departing columnists from their very first contributions. Best of all, the departing columnists have been unerringly timely— often early. This is a wonderful quality for a journal contributor. It’s important to be good, but timely and good? I get all choked up just thinking about it. Despite my whining, however, each said it was time. They had variously run out of ideas or found new and demanding responsibilities or just plain wanted a rest from my incessant demands. No amount of my arguing changed their minds. By now, you already have read in the November issue Rich Duzsak’s final “The Bottom Line.” Rich has been sending me a column every other month beginning with the first issue of the journal in January
2004. Volume 1, number 1, page 66: you can look it up. For me, it’s like losing a limb. Rich’s columns are like chewable vitamins. His light touch in dealing with coding and payment issues has entertained readers on a subject that is mostly not very entertaining but critically important to radiology practices. Farewell, Rich. Enjoy a well-earned rest. However, this is not to say that the topics of billing and reimbursement will disappear from the journal’s pages. These issues are too important to too many of my readers. Zeke Silva is stepping into the breach. Zeke is an expert in this area, who, like Rich, participates on ACR committees relevant to his writing responsibilities for JACR. I believe we can expect great things from Zeke, whose first column appears in this issue. Welcome, Zeke. You have big shoes to fill. Another popular column that is ending is “Utilization Rounds of the Massachusetts General Hospital.” The feature was conceived and pitched to me by current ACR Board of Chancellors Chair Jim Thrall several years ago, and Susanna Lee of his department at the Massachusetts General Hospital has ably led this collaborative effort of the Massachusetts faculty. As relayed to me by readers, the columns have served two important purposes: keeping radiologists up-todate on the most current thinking about how to address key imaging applications and serving as “handouts” to clinicians interested in the most appropriate way to manage the imaging of their patients. The last
installment, on cerebral aneurysms, appears in this issue. Farewell, Susanna. I’ll miss reading your contributions. Fortunately, Jim had a new idea for me a couple years ago that I have held in abeyance against just such a day as this. Titled “My Best Idea/My Worst Idea,” this new bimonthly column will be edited by Laurie Fajardo, chair of the Department of Radiology at the University of Iowa. The column is intended to educate and entertain readers by having current and former heads of community and academic departments detail in their own words which memorable ideas worked out well for them and which did not. Laurie wrote the first column herself, and it appears in this issue of the journal. I recommend it highly. Welcome, Laurie. I’m expecting great things. Finally, yet another new column begins its bimonthly run next month, in the February issue. JACR frequently publishes original articles on qualityrelated topics. The commencement of a regular column by Paul Nagy of the University of Maryland institutionalizes the already great and still growing importance to the continued health of our specialty of improving quality and documenting that we’ve done so. The column will be called “Quality Matters.” Welcome, Paul. I look forward to seeing your efforts. These partings are sweet sorrow. But they wouldn’t be sweet at all if there weren’t so much new to look forward to.
Bruce J. Hillman, MD, UVA-Radiology Research, Box 801339, Charlottesville VA 22908; e-mail: [email protected].
© 2010 American College of Radiology 0091-2182/10/$36.00 ● DOI 10.1016/j.jacr.2009.09.028
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