THE FALL PERSPECTIVE
I hope that all of our loyal readers have had a nice summer. There is something about fall in Michigan that always takes me back to my college days. I love the cool, crisp weather and the beginning of a new football season. For many of my classmates Fall marked the end of the summer, but for me it ushered in the beginning of a new year of opportunity, the promise of interesting new discoveries, making new friends and, most of all, the satisfaction of gaining new insights and skills to make me more successful.
And so it is for ABC as well. Our staff has spent the summer settling into our newly renovated offices in downtown Jackson. Our purchase and restoration of the old Jacobsen’s department store building has proved to be an uplifting experience not only for our employees but for the community as a whole. You cannot help but feel good about an investment like this in a community like Jackson.
As the collection of articles in this issue of Communique clearly indicates, there is still much to learn about our ever-changing business and the specialty of anesthesia. Once again, we touch all the important bases, from the technical details of compliance and coding, to the legislative environment to the ongoing saga of anesthesia practice-hospital relations. Hopefully at least one of these thoughtful pieces will intrigue, fascinate, affirm or challenge you to look at your group or practice situation in a new way.
As many of you have already heard we have been especially fortunate this fall to have Karin Bierstein join our team. I think you will find her explanation for the transition quite intriguing. Not only do we consider her a tremendous asset and feel immensely grateful that she wanted to work with us, but we look forward enthusiastically to the insights and guidance she will give our people. We have always tried to be forward looking, to anticipate the next significant development and to make investments that anticipate our clients’ practice needs. I am thrilled that we can now do this at a whole new level.
Soon we will pack our bags to join many of you at the ASA annual meeting in San Francisco, the PGA in New York and the Practice Management Conference in Tampa which our very own Karin Bierstein planned with Committee Chair Robert Johnstone, M.D. Each hold a unique promise of new insight, increasing our professional network of resources and exploring aspects of practice management that we never realized were so critical to our survival and success. May we all find it a time of discovery, adventure and personal fulfillment.
I would like to personally thank you for your interest in our efforts on behalf of the specialty and your support for the various services we provide the community. As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions. With your input and Karin’s vision in addition to the publication management skills of Cortney Shepherd, these pages will soon take on a whole new look.
Sincerely,
Tony Mira,
President & CEO
